ramicles of a certain palm-tree growing very abundantly on the river
banks, is in universal use in the district. Piaçaba floats, resists
immersion, and is cheaply made–very good reasons for causing it to
be valuable, and making it even an article of commerce with the Old
World.
Above this double row of trunks and beams were disposed the joists
and planks which formed the floor of the jangada, and rose about
thirty inches above the load water-line. The bulk was enormous, as we
must confess when it is considered that the raft measured a thousand
feet long and sixty broad, and thus had a superificies of sixty
thousand square feet. They were, in fact, about to commit a whole
forest to the Amazon.
The work of building was conducted under the immediate direction of
Joam Garral. But when that part was finished the question of
arrangement was submitted to the discussion of all, including even
the gallant Fragoso.
Just a word as to what he was doing in his new situation at the
fazenda.
The barber had never been so happy as since the day when he had been
received by the hospitable family. Joam Garral had offered to take
him to Para, on the road to which he was when the liana, according to
his account, had seized him by the neck and brought him up with a
round turn. Fragoso had accepted the offer, thanked him from the
bottom of his heart, and ever since had sought to make himself useful
in a thousand ways. He was a very intelligent fellow–what one might
call a “double right-hander”–that is to say, he could do everything,
and could do everything well. As merry as Lina, always singing, and
always ready with some good-natured joke, he was not long in being
liked by all.
But it was with the young mulatto that he claimed to have contracted
the heaviest obligation.
“A famous idea that of yours, Miss Lina,” he was constantly saying,
“to play at ‘following the liana!’ It is a capital game even if you
do not always find a poor chap of a barber at the end!”
“Quite a chance, Mr. Fragoso,” would laughingly reply Lina; “I assure
you, you owe me nothing!”
“What! nothing! I owe you my life, and I want it prolonged for a
hundred years, and that my recollection of the fact may endure even
longer! You see, it is not my trade to be hanged! If I tried my hand
at it, it was through necessity. But, on consideration, I would
rather die of hunger, and before quite going off I should try a
little pasturage with the brutes! As for this liana, it is a lien
between us, and so you will see!”
The conversation generally took a joking turn, but at the bottom
Fragoso was very grateful to the mulatto for having taken the
initiative in his rescue, and Lina was not insensible to the
attentions of the brave fellow, who was as straightforward, frank,
and good-looking as she was. Their friendship gave rise to many a
pleasant, “Ah, ah!” on the part of Benito, old Cybele, and others.
To return to the Jangada. After some discussion it was decided, as
the voyage was to be of some months’ duration, to make it as complete
and comfortable as possible. The Garral family, comprising the
father, mother, daughter, Benito, Manoel, and the servants, Cybele
and Lina, were to live in a separate house. In addition to these,
there were to go forty Indians, forty blacks, Fragoso, and the pilot
who was to take charge of the navigation of the raft.
Though the crew was large, it was not more than sufficient for the
service on board. To work the jangada along the windings of the river
and between the hundreds of islands and islets which lay in its
course required fully as many as were taken, for if the current
furnished the motive power, it had nothing to do with the steering,
and the hundred and sixty arms were no more than were necessary to
work the long boathooks by which the giant raft was to be kept in
mid-stream.
In the first place, then, in the hinder part of the jangada they