It was in 1824, sixteen years after the foundation of the
Portugo-Brazilian Empire, that Brazil proclaimed its independence by
the voice of Don Juan, whom the French armies had chased from
Portugal.
It remained only to define the frontier between the new empire and
that of its neighbor, Peru. This was no easy matter.
If Brazil wished to extend to the Rio Napo in the west, Peru
attempted to reach eight degrees further, as far as the Lake of Ega.
But in the meantime Brazil had to interfere to hinder the kidnaping
of the Indians from the Amazon, a practice which was engaged in much
to the profit of the Hispano-Brazilian missions. There was no better
method of checking this trade than that of fortifying the Island of
the Ronde, a little above Tabatinga, and there establishing a post.
This afforded the solution, and from that time the frontier of the
two countries passed through the middle of this island.
Above, the river is Peruvian, and is called the Marañon, as has been
said. Below, it is Brazilian, and takes the name of the Amazon.
It was on the evening of the 25th of June that the jangada stopped
before Tabatinga, the first Brazilian town situated on the left bank,
at the entrance of the river of which it bears the name, and
bleonging to the parish of St. Paul, established on the right a
little further down stream.
Joam Garral had decided to pass thirty-six hours here, so as to give
a little rest to the crew. They would not start, therefore, until the
morning of the 27th.
On this occasion Yaquita and her children, less likely, perhaps, than
at Iquitos to be fed upon by the native mosquitoes, had announced
their intention of going on ashore and visiting the town.
The population of Tabatinga is estimated at four hundred, nearly all
Indians, comprising, no doubt, many of those wandering families who
are never settled at particular spots on the banks of the Amazon or
its smaller tributaries.
The post at the island of the Ronde has been abandoned for some
years, and transferred to Tabatinga. It can thus be called a garrison
town, but the garrison is only composed of nine soldiers, nearly all
Indians, and a sergeant, who is the actual commandant of the place.
A bank about thirty feet high, in which are cut the steps of a not
very solid staircase, forms here the curtain of the esplanade which
carries the pigmy fort. The house of the commandant consists of a
couple of huts placed in a square, and the soldiers occupy an oblong
building a hundred feet away, at the foot of a large tree.
The collection of cabins exactly resembles all the villages and
hamlets which are scattered along the banks of the river, although in
them a flagstaff carrying the Brazilian colors does not rise above a
sentry-box, forever destitute of its sentinel, nor are four small
mortars present to cannonade on an emergency any vessel which does
not come in when ordered.
As for the village properly so called, it is situated below, at the
base of the plateau. A road, which is but a ravine shaded by ficuses
and miritis, leads to it in a few minutes. There, on a half-cracked
hill of clay, stand a dozen houses, covered with the leaves of the
_”boiassu”_ palm placed round a central space.
All this is not very curious, but the environs of Tabatinga are
charming, particularly at the mouth of the Javary, which is of
sufficient extent to contain the Archipelago of the Aramasa Islands.
Hereabouts are grouped many fine trees, and among them a large number
of the palms, whose supple fibers are used in the fabrication of
hammocks and fishing-nets, and are the cause of some trade. To
conclude, the place is one of the most picturesque on the Upper
Amazon.
Tabatinga is destined to become before long a station of some
importance, and will no doubt rapidly develop, for there will stop
the Brazilian steamers which ascend the river, and the Peruvian
steamers which descend it. There they will tranship passengers and
cargoes. It does not require much for an English or American village