disappeared after a few days; one of them, the last who remained
faithful to the travlers, was drowned in the Bobonasa, in endeavoring
to help the French doctor. At length the canoe, damaged by rocks and
floating trees, became useless. It was therefore necessary to get on
shore, and there at the edge of the impenetrable forest they built a
few huts of foliage. The doctor offered to go on in front with a
negro who had never wished to leave Madame des Odonais. The two went
off; they waited for them several days, but in vain. They never
returned.
“In the meantime the victuals were getting exhausted. The forsaken
ones in vain endeavored to descend the Bobonasa on a raft. They had
to again take to the forest, and make their way on foot through the
almost impenetrable undergrowth. The fatigues were too much for the
poor folks! They died off one by one in spite of the cares of the
noble Frenchwoman. At the end of a few days children, relations, and
servants, were all dead!”
“What an unfortunate woman!” said Lina.
“Madame des Odonais alone remained,” continued Manoel. “There she
was, at a thousand leagues from the ocean which she was trying to
reach! It was no longer a mother who continued her journey toward the
river–the mother had lost her shildren; she had buried them with her
own hands! It was a wife who wished to see her husband once again!
She traveled night and day, and at length regained the Bobonasa. She
was there received by some kind-hearted Indians, who took her to the
missions, where the escort was waiting. But she arrived alone, and
behind her the stages of the route were marked with graves! Madame
des Odonais reached Loreto, where we were a few days back. From this
Peruvian village she descended the Amazon, as we are doing at this
moment, and at length she rejoined her husband after a separation of
nineteen years.”
“Poor lady!” said Minha.
“Above all, poor mother!” answered Yaquita.
At this moment Araujo, the pilot, came aft and said:
“Joam Garral, we are off the Ronde Island. We are passing the
frontier!”
“The frontier!” replied Joam.
And rising, he went to the side of the jangada, and looked long and
earnestly at the Ronde Island, with the waves breaking up against it.
Then his hand sought his forehead, as if to rid himself of some
remembrance.
“The frontier!” murmured he, bowing his head by an involuntary
movement.
But an instant after his head was raised, and his expression was that
of a man resolved to do his duty to the last.
CHAPTER XII
FRAGOSO AT WORK
“BRAZA” (burning embers) is a word found in the Spanish language as
far back as the twelfth century. It has been used to make the word
“brazil,” as descriptive of certain woods which yield a reddish dye.
From this has come the name “Brazil,” given to that vast district of
South America which is crossed by the equator, and in which these
products are so frequently met with. In very early days these woods
were the object of considerable trade. Although correctly called
_”ibirapitunga,”_ from the place of production, the name of
_”brazil”_ stuck to them, and it has become that of the country,
which seems like an immense heap of embers lighted by the rays of the
tropical sun.
Brazil was from the first occupied by the Portuguese. About the
commencement of the sixteenth century, Alvarez Cabral, the pilot,
took possession of it, and although France and Holland partially
established themselves there, it has remained Portuguese, and
possesses all the qualities which distinguish that gallant little
nation. It is to-day the largest state of South America, and has at
its head the intelligent artist-king Dom Pedro.
“What is your privilege in the tribe?” asked Montaigne of an Indian
whom he met at Havre.
“The privilege of marching first to battle!” innocently answered the
Indian.
War, we know, was for a long time the surest and most rapid vehicle
of civilization. The Brazilians did what this Indian did: they
fought, they defended their conquests, they enlarged them, and we see
them marching in the first rank of the civilizing advance.