form two hemispheres, inside which the jangada appeared to follow one
of the great circles.
It had been necessary to bring the raft under these boughs, against
which flowed the gentle current of the stream. It was impossible to
go back. Hence the task of navigating with extreme care, so as to
avoid the collisions on either side.
In this all Araujo’s ability was shown, and he was admirably seconded
by his crew. The trees of the forest furnished the resting-places for
the long poles which kept the jangada in its course. The least blow
to the jangada would have endangered the complete demolition of the
woodwork, and caused the loss, if not of the crew, of the greater
part of the cargo.
“It is truly very beautiful,” said Minha, “and it would be very
pleasant for us always to travel in this way, on this quiet water,
shaded from the rays of the sun.”
“At the same time pleasant and dangerous, dear Minha,” said Manoel.
“In a pirogue there is doubtless nothing to fear in sailing here, but
on a huge raft of wood better have a free course and a clear stream.”
“We shall be quite through the forest in a couple of hours,” said the
pilot.
“Look well at it, then!” said Lina. “All these beautiful things pass
so quickly! Ah! dear mistress! do you see the troops of monkeys
disporting in the higher branches, and the birds admiring themselves
in the pellucid water!”
“And the flowers half-opened on the surface,” replied Minha, “and
which the current dandles like the breeze!”
“And the long lianas, which so oddly stretch from one tree to
another!” added the young mulatto.
“And no Fragoso at the end of them!” said Lina’s betrothed. “That was
rather a nice flower you gathered in the forest of Iquitos!”
“Just behold the flower–the only one in the world,” said Lina
quizzingly; “and, mistress! just look at the splendid plants!”
And Lina pointed to the nymphæas with their colossal leaves, whose
flowers bear buds as large as cocoanuts. Then, just where the banks
plunged beneath the waters, there were clumps of _”mucumus,”_ reeds
with large leaves, whose elastic stems bend to give passage to the
pirogues and close again behind them. There was there what would
tempt any sportsman, for a whole world of aquatic birds fluttered
between the higher clusters, which shook with the stream.
Ibises half-lollingly posed on some old trunk, and gray herons
motionless on one leg, solemn flamingoes who from a distance looked
like red umbrellas scattered in the foliage, and phenicopters of
every color, enlivened the temporary morass.
And along the top of the water glided long and swiftly-swimming
snakes, among them the formidable gymnotus, whose electric discharges
successively repeated paralyze the most robust of men or animals, and
end by dealing death. Precautions had to be taken against the
_”sucurijus”_ serpents, which, coiled round the trunk of some tree,
unroll themselves, hang down, seize their prey, and draw it into
their rings, which are powerful enough to crush a bullock. Have there
not been met with in these Amazonian forests reptiles from thirty to
thirty-five feet long? and even, according to M. Carrey, do not some
exist whose length reaches forty-seven feet, and whose girth is that
of a hogshead?
Had one of these sucurijus, indeed, got on to the raft he would have
proved as formidable as an alligator.
Very fortunately the travelers had to contend with neither gymnotus
nor sucuriju, and the passage across the submerged forest, which
lasted about two hours, was effected without accident.
Three days passed. They neared Manaos. Twenty-four hours more and the
raft would be off the mouth of the Rio Negro, before the capital of
the province of Amazones.
In fact, on the 23d of August, at five o’clock in the evening, they
stopped at the southern point of Muras Island, on the right bank of
the stream. They only had to cross obliquely for a few miles to
arrive at the port, but the pilot Araujo very properly would not risk
it on that day, as night was coming on. The three miles which
remained would take three hours to travel, and to keep to the course