Indians say, is prepared from the sap of one of the euphorbiaceæ and
the juice of a bulbous strychnos, not to mention the paste of
venomous ants and poisonous serpent fangs which they mix with it.
“It is indeed a terrible poison,” said Manoel. “It attacks at once
those nerves by which the movements are subordinated to the will. But
the heart is not touched, and it does not cease to beat until the
extinction of the vital functions, and besides no antidote is known
to the poison, which commences by numbness of the limbs.”
Very fortunately, these Muras made no hostile demonstrations,
although they entertain a profound hatred toward the whites. They
have, in truth, no longer the courage of their ancestors.
At nightfall a five-holed flute was heard behind the trees in the
island, playing several airs in a minor key. Another flute answered.
This interchange of musical phrases lasted for two or three minutes,
and the Muras disappeared.
Fragoso, in an exuberant moment, had tried to reply by a song in his
own fashion, but Lina had clapped her hand on his mouth, and
prevented his showing off his insignificant singing talents, which he
was so willingly lavish of.
On the 2d of August, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the raft
arrived twenty leagues away from there at Lake Apoara, which is fed
by the black waters of the river of the same name, and two days
afterward, about five o’clock, it stopped at the entrance into Lake
Coary.
This lake is one of the largest which communicates with the Amazon,
and it serves as a reservoir for different rivers. Five or six
affluents run into it, and there are stored and mixed up, and emerge
by a narrow channel into the main stream.
After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of Tahua-Miri, mounted on its
piles as on stilts, as a protection against inundation from the
floods, which often sweep up over these low sand banks, the raft was
moored for the night.
The stoppage was made in sight of the village of Coary, a dozen
houses, considerably dilapidated, built I the midst of a thick mass
of orange and calabash trees.
Nothing can be more changeable than the aspect of this village, for
according to the rise or fall of the water the lake stretches away on
all sides of it, or is reduced to a narrow canal, scarcely deep
enough to communicate with the Amazon.
On the following morning, that of the 5th of August, they started at
dawn, passing the canal of Yucura, belonging to the tangled system of
lakes and furos of the Rio Zapura, and on the morning of the 6th of
August they reached the entrance to Lake Miana.
No fresh incident occurred in the life on board, which proceeded with
almost methodical regularity.
Fragoso, urged on by Lina, did not cease to watch Torres.
Many times he tried to get him to talk about his past life, but the
adventurer eluded all conversation on the subject, and ended by
maintaining a strict reserve toward the barber.
After catching a glimpse of the hamlet of Tahua-Miri, mounted on its
piles as on stilts, as a protection against inundation from the
floods, which often sweep up and over these low sand banks, the raft
was moored for the night.
His intercourse with the Garral family remained the same. If he spoke
little to Joam, he addressed himself more willingly to Yaquita and
her daughter, and appeared not to notice the evident coolness with
which he was received. They all agreed that when the raft arrived at
Manaos, Torres should leave it, and that they would never speak of
him again. Yaquita followed the advice of Padre Passanha, who
counseled patience, but the good priest had not such an easy task in
Manoel, who was quite disposed to put on shore the intruder who had
been so unfortunately taken on to the raft.
The only thing that happened on this evening was the following:
A pirogue, going down the river, came alongside the jangada, after
being hailed by Joam Garral.
“Are you going to Manaos?” askee he of the Indian who commanded and