the forest of Iquitos? Why did he then refuse the hospitality which
we offered, so as to afterward manage to force himself on us as our
traveling companion? We arrive at Tabatinga, and there he is as if he
was waiting for us! The probability is that these meetings were in
pursuance of a preconceived plan. When I see the shifty, dogged look
of Torres, all this crowds on my mind. I do not know! I am losing
myself in things that defy explanation! Oh! why did I ever think of
offering to take him on board this raft?”
“Be calm, Benito, I pray you!”
“Manoel!” continued Benito, who seemed to be powerless to contain
himself, “think you that if it only concerned me–this man who
inspires us all with such aversion and disgust–I should not hesitate
to throw him overboard! But when it concerns my father, I fear lest
in giving way to my impressions I may be injuring my object!
Something tells me that with this scheming fellow there may be danger
in doing anything until he has given us the right–the right and the
duty–to do it. In short, on the jangada, he is in our power, and if
we both keep good watch over my father, we can spoil his game, no
matter how sure it may be, and force him to unmask and betray
himself! Then wait a little longer!”
The arrival of Torres in the bow of the raft broke off the
conversation. Torres looked slyly at the two young men, but said not
a word.
Benito was not deceived when he said that the adventurer’s eyes were
never off Joam Garral as long as he fancied he was unobserved.
No! he was not deceived when he said that Torres’ face grew evil when
he looked at his father!
By what myeterious bond could these two men–one nobleness itself,
that was self-evident–be connected with each other?
Such being the state of affairs it was certainly difficult for
Torres, constantly watched as he was by the two young men, by Fragoso
and Lina, to make a single movement without having instantly to
repress it. Perhaps he understood the position. If he did, he did not
show it, for his manner changed not in the least.
Satisfied with their mutual explanation, Manoel and Benito promised
to keep him in sight without doing anything to awaken his suspicions.
During the following days the jangada passed on the right the mouths
of the rivers Camara, Aru, and Yuripari, whose waters instead of
flowing into the Amazon run off to the south to feed the Rio des
Purus, and return by it into the main river. At five o’clock on the
evening of the 10th of August they put into the island of Cocos.
They there passed a _”seringal.”_ This name is applied to a
caoutchouc plantation, the caoutchouc being extracted from the
_”seringueira”_ tree, whose scientific name is _siphonia elastica._
It is said that, by negligence or bad management, the number of these
trees is decreasing in the basin of the Amazon, but the forests of
seringueira trees are still very considerable on the banks of the
Madeira, Purus, and other tributaries.
There were here some twenty Indians collecting and working the
caoutchouc, an operation which principally takes place during the
months of May, June, and July.
After having ascertained that the trees, well prepared by the river
floods which have bathed their stems to a height of about four feet,
are in good condition for the harvest, the Indians are set to work.
Incisions are made into the alburnum of the seringueiras; below the
wound small pots are attached, which twenty-four hours suffice to
fill with a milky sap. It can also be collected by means of a hollow
bamboo, and a receptacle placed on the ground at the foot of the
tree.
The sap being obtained, the Indians, to prevent the separation of its
peculiar resins, fumigate it over a fire of the nuts of the assai
palm. By spreading out the sap on a wooden scoop, and shaking it in
the smoke, its coagulation is almost immediately obtained; it assumes
a grayish-yellow tinge and solidifies. The layers formed in