Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon by Jules Verne

more than twenty-five kilometers for each twenty-four hours.

In addition, the surface of the water is far from being completely

clear. Trees still green, vegetable remains, islets of plants

constantly torn from the banks, formed quite a flotilla of fragments

carried on by the currents, and were so many obstacles to speedy

navigation.

The mouth of the Nanay was soon passed, and lost to sight behind a

point on the left bank, which, with its carpet of russet grasses

tinted by the sun, formed a ruddy relief to the green forests on the

horizon.

The jangada took the center of the stream between the numerous

picturesque islands, of which there are a dozen between Iquitos and

Pucalppa.

Araujo, who did not forget to clear his vision and his memory by an

occasional application to his demijohn, maneuvered very ably when

passing through this archipelago. At his word of command fifty poles

from each side of the raft were raised in the air, and struck the

water with an automatic movement very curious to behold.

While this was going on, Yaquita, aided by Lina and Cybele, was

getting everything in order, and the Indian cooks were preparing the

breakfast.

As for the two young fellows and Minha, they were walking up and down

in company with Padre Passanha, and from time to time the lady

stopped and watered the plants which were placed about the base of

the dwelling-house.

“Well, padre,” said Benito, “do you know a more agreeable way of

traveling?”

“No, my dear boy,” replied the padre; “it is truly traveling with all

one’s belongings.”

“And without any fatigue,” added Manoel; “we might do hundreds of

thousands of miles in this way.”

“And,” said Minha, “you do not repent having taken passage with us?

Does it not seem to you as if we were afloat on an island drifted

quietly away from the bed of the river with its prairies and its

trees? Only—-”

“Only?” repeated the padre.

“Only we have made the island with our own hands; it belongs to us,

and I prefer it to all the islands of the Amazon. I have a right to

be proud of it.”

“Yes, my daughter; and I absolve you from your pride. Besides, I am

not allowed to scold you in the presence of Manoel!”

“But, on the other hand,” replied she, gayly, “you should teach

Manoel to scold me when I deserve it. He is a great deal too

indulgent to my little self.”

“Well, then, dear Minha,” said Manoel, “I shall profit by that

permission to remind you—-”

“Of what?”

“That you were very busy in the library at the fazenda, and that you

promised to make me very learned about everything connected with the

Upper Amazon. We know very little about it in Para, and here we have

been passing several islands and you have not even told me their

names!”

“What is the good of that?” said she.

“Yes; what is the good of it?” repeated Benito. “What can be the use

of remembering the hundreds of names in the ‘Tupi’ dialect with which

these islands are dressed out? It is enough to know them. The

Americans are much more practical with their Mississippi islands;

they number then—-”

“As they number the avenues and streets of their towns,” replied

Manoel. “Frankly, I don’t care much for that numerical system; it

conveys nothing to the imagination–Sixty-fourth Island or

Sixty-fifth Island, any more than Sixth Street or Third Avenue. Don’t

you agree with me, Minha?”

“Yes, Manoel; though I am of somewhat the same way of thinking as my

brother. But even if we do not know their names, the islands of our

great river are truly splendid! See how they rest under the shadows

of those gigantic palm-trees with their drooping leaves! And the

girdle of reeds which encircles them through which a pirogue can with

difficulty make its way! And the mangrove trees, whose fantastic

roots buttress them to the bank like the claws of some gigantic crab!

Yes, the islands are beautiful, but, beautiful as they are, they

cannot equal the one we have made our own!”

“My little Minha is enthusiastic to-day,” said the padre.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *