亚马逊漂流记(中文导读英文版)(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：王勋,纪飞,（法）儒勒·凡尔纳

出版社：清华大学出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

亚马逊漂流记(中文导读英文版)试读：

前言

儒勒·凡尔纳（Jules Verne，1828-1905），法国著名作家，现代科幻小说的奠基人，被誉为“科幻小说之父”。一生共创作了六十多部充满神奇与浪漫的科幻小说，其代表作有《气球上的五星期》、《地心游记》、《从地球到月球》、《海底两万里》、《八十天周游世界》、《格兰特船长的儿女》和《神秘岛》等，这些小说被译成世界上几十种文字，并多次被搬上银幕，在世界上广为流传。

儒勒·凡尔纳于1828年2月8日出生在法国西部海港南特。自幼热爱海洋，向往远航探险。他的父亲是一位事业成功的律师，并希望凡尔纳日后也以律师作为职业。18岁时，他遵从父训到首都巴黎攻读法律。可是他对法律毫无兴趣，却爱上了文学和戏剧。1863年，他发表了第一部科幻小说《气球上的五星期》，之后又出版了使他获得巨大声誉的科幻三部曲：《格兰特船长的儿女》、《海底两万里》和《神秘岛》。凡尔纳的科幻小说是真实性与大胆幻想的结合：奇幻的故事情节、鲜明的人物形象、丰富而奇妙的想象、浓郁的浪漫主义风格和生活情趣，使之产生了巨大的艺术魅力，赢得了全世界各国读者，特别是青少年读者的喜爱。他的作品中所表现的自然科学方面的许多预言和假设，在他去世之后得以印证和实现，至今仍然启发着人们的想象力和创造力。

总的说来，凡尔纳的小说有两大特点。第一，他的作品是丰富的幻想和科学知识的结合。虽然凡尔纳笔下的幻想极为奇特、大胆，但其中有着坚实的科学基础，这些作品既是科学精神的幻想曲，也是富有幻想色彩的科学预言，他的许多科幻猜想最后变成了现实。例如，他不仅在小说《从地球到月球》中用大炮将探月飞行器送上太空，甚至还将发射场安排在了美国佛罗里达州，这正是“阿波罗登月计划”的发射场；他在小说《海底两万里》中虚构了“鹦鹉螺号”潜水艇，在该小说出版10年后，第一艘真正的潜水艇才下水；在《征服者罗比尔》中有一个类似直升飞机的飞行器，数十年后，人类才将这一设想变成了现实。此外，他的小说中还出现了电视、霓虹灯、导弹、坦克和太空飞船等科学技术应用概念，而这些后来都变成了现实。第二，他的作品中的主人公是一些鲜明、生动而富有进取心和正义感的人物，他们或是地理发现者、探险家、科学家、发明家，他们具有超人的智慧、坚强的毅力和执著不懈的精神；或是反对民族歧视、民族压迫的战士，反对社会不公的抗争者，追求自由的旅行家，在他们身上具有反压迫、反强权、反传统的战斗精神，他们热爱自由、热爱平等，维护人的尊严。凡尔纳所塑造的这些人物形象，他们远大的理想、坚强的性格、优秀的品质和高尚的情操已赢得了亿万读者的喜爱和尊敬，并一直成为人们向往的偶像和学习的榜样。

1900年，儒勒·凡尔纳的第一部中译本小说《八十天周游世界》（当时的中文译名是《八十日环游记》）被介绍给中国的读者，直至新中国成立之前，陆续又有梁启超、鲁迅等文化名人将凡尔纳的作品翻译出版。20世纪50年代后期，凡尔纳的科幻小说又开始为国内翻译界和出版界所关注，并在新中国读者面前重新显示了科幻小说旺盛的生命力。20世纪80年代，凡尔纳的作品再次受到读者的青睐，国内许多出版社相继翻译出版了凡尔纳的科幻小说，一时形成了“凡尔纳热”。

目前，国内已出版的凡尔纳小说的形式主要有两种：一种是中文翻译版，另一种是中英文对照版。而其中的中英文对照读本比较受读者的欢迎，这主要是得益于中国人热衷于学习英文的大环境。从英文学习的角度来看，直接使用纯英文的学习资料更有利于英语学习。考虑到对英文内容背景的了解有助于英文阅读，使用中文导读应该是一种比较好的方式，也可以说是该类型书的第三种版本形式。采用中文导读而非中英文对照的方式进行编排，这样有利于国内读者摆脱对英文阅读依赖中文注释的习惯。基于以上原因，我们决定编译凡尔纳系列科幻小说中的经典，其中包括《气球上的五星期》、《地心游记》、《从地球到月球》、《环游月球》、《海底两万里》、《八十天周游世界》、《格兰特船长的儿女》、《神秘岛》、《沙皇的信使》、《喀尔巴阡古堡》、《无名之家》、《征服者罗比尔》、《大臣号幸存者》、《亚马逊漂流记》、《太阳系历险记》、《两年假期》和《测量子午线》等，并采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中，我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓，也尽可能保留原作的风格。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前，可以先阅读中文导读内容，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。我们相信，这些经典著作的引进对加强当代中国读者，特别是青少年读者的科学素养和人文修养是非常有帮助的。

本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、左新杲、黄福成、冯洁、徐鑫、马启龙、王业伟、王旭敏、陈楠、王多多、邵舒丽、周丽萍、王晓旭、李永振、孟宪行、熊红华、胡国平、熊建国、徐平国、王小红等。限于我们的文学素养和英语水平，书中难免不当之处，衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。第一章　森林队长导读

一八五二年五月四日，“森林队长”特勒斯手持一份文件在沉思。这是一份多年前写成的文件，每个字母间都留有间隙，特勒斯是唯一能读懂这份文件的人。“森林队长”是专业抓捕逃亡奴隶的人。这个行业开始于一七七二年，这是一项不受人尊重的职业，由自由了的奴隶及逃兵组成。

年约三十岁的特勒斯是巴西白人，有着强壮的身体和坚韧的性格。他一身森林队长的装束：戴一顶宽边皮帽，厚羊毛裤的裤腿塞在靴筒中，身披一件褪色的斗篷，带着一把像剑一样的“芒什塔”，还有一把叫“昂切塔”的锄头，是用于追捕森林中的动物的。

这一天，他在森林中紧紧盯着文件，林中吼猴的啼叫和响尾蛇的尖锐嘶叫声也未能使他分心。他靠在树上，脸上露出奸笑，知道文件中的文字对他所找的人很重要，这个人很有钱，最后一句话每个字都值一百万瑞斯，而最后的五十八个字就值五千八百万瑞斯，现在他要到达目的地了。从大西洋沿岸来到亚马逊河流域的秘鲁，现在只要爬到树的顶端就能看到他的房子了。

这个文件是他的好兄弟给他的，里面有好兄弟同事隐匿多年使用的假名字。特勒斯将文件放入一个结实的铜盒中，这只香烟大的小盒里装着几种周边国家的钱币，合起来有五百法郎，这是他的全部财产。他的生活很简单，只需买些烟草和酒，就能维持好长时间。

他把这个盒子放在靠树根的洞里，这时已是下午两点了。他喝了几口随身带的酒壶里的酒，发现又该添酒了，又将烟斗塞满烟丝，点着了吸了十几口，他就睡着了。h y j s l y d d q f d z x g a s g z z q q e h x g k f n d r x u j u g l o cy t d x v k s b x h h u y p o h d v y r y m h u h p u y d k j o x p h “Pe t o z l s l e t n p m v f f o v p d p a j x h y y n o j y g g a y m e q y n f u q l n m v l y f g s u z m q I z t l b q q y u g s q e u b v n r c r e d g r u z b l r m x y u h q h p z d r r g c r o h e p q x u f l v v r p l p h o n t h v d d q f h q s n t z h h h n f e p m q k y u u e x k t o g z g k y u u m f v l j d q d p z j q s y k r p l x h x q r y m v k l o h h h o t o z v d k s p p s u v j h d.”

The Man who held in his hand the document of which this strange assemblage of letters formed the concluding paragraph remained for some moments lost in thought.

It contained about a hundred of these lines,with the letters at even distances,and undivided into words.It seemed to have been written many years before,and time had already laid his tawny finger on the sheet of good stout paper which was covered with the hieroglyphics.

On what principle had these letters been arranged？He who held the paper was alone able to tell.With such cipher language it is as with the locks of some of our iron safes-in either case the protection is the same.The combinations which they lead to can be counted by millions,and no calculator’s life would suffice to express them.Some particular“word”has to be known before the lock of the safe will act,and some“cipher”is necessary before that cryptogram can be read.

He who had just reperused the document was but a simple“captain of the woods.”Under the name of“Capitaes do Mato”are known in Brazil those individuals who are engaged in the recapture of fugitive slaves.The institution dates from 1722.At that period anti-slavery ideas had entered the minds of a few philanthropists,and more than a century had to elapse before the mass of the people grasped and applied them.That freedom was a right,that the very first of the natural rights of man was to be free and to belong only to himself,would seem to be self-evident,and yet thousands of years had to pass before the glorious thought was generally accepted,and the nations of the earth had the courage to proclaim it.In 1852，the year in which our story opens,there were still slaves in Brazil,and as a natural consequence,captains of the woods to pursue them.For certain reasons of political economy the hour of general emancipation had been delayed,but the black had at this date the right to ransom himself,the children which were born to him were born free.The day was not far distant when the magnificent country,into which could be put three-quarters of the continent of Europe,would no longer count a single slave among its ten millions of inhabitants.The occupation of the captains of the woods was doomed,and at the period we speak of the advantages obtainable from the capture of fugitives were rapidly diminishing.While,however,the calling continued sufficiently profitable,the captains of the woods formed a peculiar class of adventurers,principally composed of freedmen and deserters-of not very enviable reputation.The slave hunters in fact belonged to the dregs of society,and we shall not be far wrong in assuming that the man with the cryptogram was a fitting comrade for his fellow“capitaes do mato.”Torres-for that was his name-unlike the majority of his companions,was neither half-breed,Indian,nor negro.He was a white of Brazilian origin,and had received a better education than befitted his present condition.One of those unclassed men who are found so frequently in the distant countries of the New World,at a time when the Brazilian law still excluded mulattoes and others of mixed blood from certain employments,it was evident that if such exclusion had affected him,it had done so on account of his worthless character,and not because of his birth.

Torres at the present moment was not,however,in Brazil.He had just passed the frontier,and was wandering in the forests of Peru,from which issue the waters of the Upper Amazon.

He was a man of about thirty years of age,on whom the fatigues of a precarious existence seemed,thanks to an exceptional temperament and an iron constitution,to have had no effect.Of middle height,broad shoulders,regular features,and decided gait,his face was tanned with the scorching air of the tropics.He had a thick black beard,and eyes lost under contracting eyebrows,giving that swift but hard glance so characteristic of insolent natures.Clothedas backwoodsmen are generally clothed,not over elaborately,his garments bore witness to long and roughish wear.On his head,stuck jauntily on one side,was a leather hat with a large brim.Trousers he had of coarse wool,which were tucked into the tops of the thick,heavy boots which formed the most substantial part of his attire,and over all,and hiding all,was a faded yellowish poncho.

But if Torres was a captain of the woods it was evident that he was not now employed in that capacity,his means of attack and defense being obviously insufficient for any one engaged in the pursuit of the blacks.No firearms-neither gun nor revolver,in his belt only one of those weapons,more sword than hunting knife,called a“manchetta，”and in addition he had an“enchada，”which is a sort of hoe,specially employed in the pursuit of the tatous and agoutis which abound in the forests of the Upper Amazon,where there is generally little to fear from wild beasts.

On the 4th of May，1852，it happened,then,that our adventurer was deeply absorbed in the reading of the document on which his eyes were fixed,and,accustomed as he was to live in the forests of South America,he was perfectly indifferent to their splendors.Nothing could distract his attention：neither the constant cry of the howling monkeys,which St.Hillaire has graphically compared to the ax of the woodman as he strikes the branches of the trees,nor the sharp jingle of the rings of the rattlesnake（not an aggressive reptile,it is true,but one of the most venomous）；neither the bawling voice of the horned toad,the most hideous of its kind,nor even the solemn and sonorous croak of the bellowing frog,which,though it cannot equal the bull in size,can surpass him in noise.

Torres heard nothing of all these sounds,which form,as it were,the complex voice of the forests of the New World.Reclining at the foot of a magnificent tree,he did not even admire the lofty boughs of that“pao ferro，”or iron wood,with its somber bark,hard as the metal which it replaces in the weapon and utensil of the Indian savage.No.Lost in thought,the captain of the woods turned the curious paper again and again between his fingers.With the cipher,of which he had the secret,he assigned to each letter its true value.He read,he verified the sense of those lines,unintelligible to all but him,and thenhe smiled-and a most unpleasant smile it was.

Then he murmured some phrases in an undertone which none in the solitude of the Peruvian forests could hear,and which no one,had he been anywhere else,would have heard.

“Yes，”said he,at length，“here are a hundred lines very neatly written,which,for some one that I know,have an importance that is undoubted.That somebody is rich.It is a question of life or death for him,and looked at in every way it will cost him something.”And,scrutinizing the paper with greedy eyes，“At a conto only for each word of this last sentence it will amount to a considerable sum,and it is this sentence which fixes the price.It sums up the entire document.It gives their true names to true personages；but before trying to understand it I ought to begin by counting the number of words it contains,and even when this is done its true meaning may be missed.”

In saying this Torres began to count mentally.

“There are fifty-eight words,and that makes fifty-eight contos.With nothing but that one could live in Brazil,in America,wherever one wished,and even live without doing anything！And what would it be,then,if all the words of this document were paid for at the same price？It would be necessary to count by hundreds of contos.Ah！there is quite a fortune here for me to realize if I am not the greatest of duffers！”

It seemed as though the hands of Torres felt the enormous sum,and were already closing over the rolls of gold.Suddenly his thoughts took another turn.

“At length，”he cried，“I see land；and I do not regret the voyage which has led me from the coast of the Atlantic to the Upper Amazon.But this man may quit America and go beyond the seas,and then how can I touch him？But no！he is there,and if I climb to the top of this tree I can see the roof under which he lives with his family！”Then seizing the paper and shaking it with terrible meaning：“Before tomorrow I will be in his presence；before tomorrow he will know that his honor and his life are contained in these lines.And when he wishes to see the cipher which permits him to read them,he-well,he will pay for it.He will pay,if I wish it,with all his fortune,as he ought to pay with all his blood！Ah！My worthy comrade,who gave me this cipher,who told me where I could find his old colleague,and the name under which he has beenhiding himself for so many years,hardly suspects that he has made my fortune！”

For the last time Torres glanced over the yellow paper,and then,after carefully folding it,put it away into a little copper box which he used for a purse.This box was about as big as a cigar case,and if what was in it was all Torres possessed he would nowhere have been considered a wealthy man.He had a few of all the coins of the neighboring States-ten doublecondors in gold of the United States of Colombia,worth about a hundred francs；Brazilian reis,worth about as much；golden sols of Peru,worth,say,double；some Chilian escudos,worth fifty francs or more,and some smaller coins；but the lot would not amount to more than five hundred francs,and Torres would have been somewhat embarrassed had he been asked how or where he had got them.One thing was certain,that for some months,after having suddenly abandoned the trade of the slave hunter,which he carried on in the province of Para,Torres had ascended the basin of the Amazon,crossed the Brazilian frontier,and come into Peruvian territory.To such a man the necessaries of life were but few；expenses he had none-nothing for his lodging,nothing for his clothes.The forest provided his food,which in the backwoods cost him naught.A few reis were enough for his tobacco,which he bought at the mission stations or in the villages,and for a trifle more he filled his flask with liquor.With little he could go far.

When he had pushed the paper into the metal box,of which the lid shut tightly with a snap,Torres,instead of putting it into the pocket of his under-vest,thought to be extra careful,and placed it near him in a hollow of a root of the tree beneath which he was sitting.This proceeding,as it turned out,might have cost him dear.

It was very warm；the air was oppressive.If the church of the nearest village had possessed a clock,the clock would have struck two,and,coming with the wind,Torres would have heard it,for it was not more than a couple of miles off.But he cared not as to time.Accustomed to regulate his proceedings by the height of the sun,calculated with more or less accuracy,he could scarcely be supposed to conduct himself with military precision.He breakfasted or dined when he pleased or when he could；he slept when andwhere sleep overtook him.If his table was not always spread,his bed was always ready at the foot of some tree in the open forest.And in other respects Torres was not difficult to please.He had traveled during most of the morning,and having already eaten a little,he began to feel the want of a snooze.Two or three hours’rest would,he thought,put him in a state to continue his road,and so he laid himself down on the grass as comfortably as he could,and waited for sleep beneath the ironwood-tree.

Torres was not one of those people who drop off to sleep without certain preliminaries.He was in the habit of drinking a drop or two of strong liquor,and of then smoking a pipe；the spirits,he said,overexcited the brain,and the tobacco smoke agreeably mingled with the general haziness of his reverie.

Torres commenced,then,by applying to his lips a flask which he carried at his side；it contained the liquor generally known under the name of“chica”in Peru,and more particularly under that of“caysuma”in the Upper Amazon,to which fermented distillation of the root of the sweet manioc the captain had added a good dose of“tafia”or native rum.

When Torres had drunk a little of this mixture he shook the flask,and discovered,not without regret,that it was nearly empty.

“Must get some more，”he said very quietly.

Then taking out a short wooden pipe,he filled it with the coarse and bitter tobacco of Brazil,of which the leaves belong to that old“petun”introduced into France by Nicot,to whom we owe the popularization of the most productive and widespread of the solanaceae.

This native tobacco had little in common with the fine qualities of our present manufacturers；but Torres was not more difficult to please in this matter than in others,and so,having filled his pipe,he struck a match and applied the flame to a piece of that stick substance which is the secretion of certain of the hymenoptera,and is known as“ants’amadou”.With the amadou he lighted up,and after about a dozen whiffs his eyes closed,his pipe escaped from his fingers,and he fell asleep.第二章　抢劫者与被抢劫者导读

半个小时后，一只卡利巴猴过来，走到离他十步远的地方。卡利巴猴在卷尾猴中是最奇特的，它性格温和、喜欢群居。它的体形很大，善于在地上搏斗，还可以灵活地在大树顶上跳跃行走。

卡利巴猴握着一根棍子走到离特勒斯三步远的地方停下来，看起来它对森林队长怀着仇恨，已下决心要消灭眼前这个人，它走近特勒斯，然后举起棍子。

这时，放在树洞的盒子被太阳照射，反射出一道光吸引了猴子。它拿起盒子退了两步，好奇地玩着盒子。猴子将手中的棍子扔掉，碰断了一根干树枝，发出了一声响声。

特勒斯被惊醒了，他看到了卡利巴猴，赶紧拿起身边的“芒什塔”锄头自卫。心想：再晚一会儿，就被这猴子打死了。

同时，猴子也向后退了几步，特勒斯看到它手里拿着自己的盒子，那里面装着他的希望。他站起来追猴子，要把盒子夺回来。可追猴子没那么容易，他准备智取，于是藏在一棵树的后面，可猴子比它还有耐心。特勒斯终于忍不住了，出来追了过去。特勒斯在草丛中不时被树根绊倒，而猴子敏捷地在前面跑，还不时回头嘲笑他。特勒斯累得停了下来，猴子也停下并拔草吃，还将盒子摇得叮当响。

特勒斯冷静下来，想放弃这个盒子，但想到里面的文件，决定再努力一次。他向前走了几步，猴子退了几步，迅速爬到一棵树上，用尾巴勾住四十多尺高的树枝，坐在树顶摘果子吃。

特勒斯也需要吃点东西了，可挎包和酒壶都空了。他走到树下骂猴子是“古里波卡”，即黑人与印第安人的杂种。但猴子听不懂这些，他又拿着石块向猴子扔去，仍不起作用。

他彻底绝望了，想放弃追捕，回到亚马逊河上去。这时，他听到有人在离他二十步远的地方说话，便马上藏到了树丛中。

突然一声枪响，猴子摔了下来，手里还拿着他的盒子。特勒斯从树丛中钻出来，树下出现了两个猎手打扮的巴西人。他看出这是两个葡萄牙血统的巴西人，他们每人拿一杆长枪，腰间挂一把“福卡”尖刀。

两位年轻人比特勒斯先到达猴子尸体跟前，特勒斯对他们表示了感谢，说他们帮了自己一个忙，这只猴子是个贼。

其中稍年轻的人从猴子手中拿出盒子递给了他，他知道了递给他盒子的叫柏里托·贾雷尔，另一位年轻人是助理军医马诺埃尔。

他听到这个名字时，心就要跳出来了，接着年轻人说其父乔恩·贾雷尔的农庄离此地三英里，欢迎他去做客。特勒斯介绍了自己的名字，并说自己要赶回亚马逊河，到帕拉去。

柏里托说，他们全家一个月内也要做一次旅行，也许旅途中还会见面的。特勒斯感谢他们的邀请，并表示希望在路上重逢。然后他们互相行了礼，就分别了。

分别后特勒斯恶狠狠地诅咒：柏里托如果返回巴西，早晚也逃不出自己的手心。接着便走进了密林。orres slept for about half an hour,and then there was a noise amongthe trees-a sound of light footsteps,as though some visitor Twas walking with naked feet,and taking all the precaution he could lest he should be heard.To have put himself on guard against any suspicious approach would have been the first care of our adventurer had his eyes been open at the time.But he had not then awoke,and what advanced was able to arrive in his presence,at ten paces from the tree,without being perceived.

It was not a man at all,it was a“guariba.”

Of all the prehensile-tailed monkeys which haunt the forests of the Upper Amazon-graceful sahuis,homed sapajous,gray-coated monos,sagouins which seem to wear a mask on their grimacing faces-the guariba is without doubt the most eccentric.Of sociable disposition,and not very savage,differing thereinvery greatly from the mucura,who is as ferocious as he is foul,he delights in company,and generally travels in troops.It was he whose presence had been signaled from afar by the monotonous concert of voices,so like the psalm-singing of some church choir.But if nature has not made him vicious,it is none the less necessary to attack him with caution,and under any circumstances a sleeping traveler ought not to leave himself exposed,lest a guariba should surprise him when he is not in a position to defend himself.

This monkey,which is also known in Brazil as the“barbado，”was of large size.The suppleness and stouthess of his limbs proclaimed him a powerful creature,as fit to fight on the ground as to leap from branch to branch at the tops of the giants of the forest.

He advanced then cautiously,and with short steps.He glanced to the right and to the left,and rapidly swung his tail.To these representatives of the monkey tribe nature has not been content to give four hands-she has shown herself more generous,and added a fifth,for the extremity of their caudal appendage possesses a perfect power of prehension.

The guariba noiselessly approached,brandishing a study cudgel,which,wielded by his muscular arm,would have proved a formidable weapon.For some minutes he had seen the man at the foot of the tree,but the sleeper did not move,and this doubtless induced him to come and look at him a little nearer.He came forward then,not without hesitation,and stopped at last about three paces off.

On his bearded face was pictured a grin,which showed his sharp-edged teeth,white as ivory,and the cudgel began to move about in a way that was not very reassuring for the captain of the woods.

Unmistakably the sight of Torres did not inspire the guariba with friendly thoughts.Had he then particular reasons for wishing evil to this defenseless specimen of the human race which chance had delivered over to him？Perhaps！We know how certain animals retain the memory of the bad treatment they have received,and it is possible that against backwoodsmen in general he bore some special grudge.

In fact Indians especially make more fuss about the monkey than any other kind of game,and,no matter to what species it belongs,follow its chase withthe ardor of Nimrods,not only for the pleasure of hunting it,but for the pleasure of eating it.

Whatever it was,the guariba did not seen disinclined to change characters this time,and if he did not quite forget that nature had made him but a simple herbivore,and longed to devour the captain of the woods,he seemed at least to have made up his mind to get rid of one of his natural enemies.

After looking at him for some minutes the guariba began to move round the tree.He stepped slowly,holding his breath,and getting nearer and nearer.His attitude was threatening,his countenance ferocious.Nothing could have seemed easier to him than to have crushed this motionless man at a single blow,and assuredly at that moment the life of Torres hung by a thread.

In truth,the guariba stopped a second time close up to the tree,placed himself at the side,so as to command the head of the sleeper,and lifted his stick to give the blow.

But if Torres had been imprudent in putting near him in the crevice of the root the little case which contained his document and his fortune,it was this imprudence which saved his life.

A sunbeam shooting between the branches just glinted on the case,the polished metal of which lighted up like a looking-glass.The monkey,with the frivolity peculiar to his species,instantly had his attention distracted.His ideas,if such an animal could have ideas,took another direction.He stopped,caught hold of the case,jumped back a pace or two,and,raising it to the level of his eyes,looked at it not without surprise as he moved it about and used it like a mirror.He was if anything still more astonished when he heard the rattle of the gold pieces it contained.The music enchanted him.It was like a rattle in the hands of a child.He carried it to his mouth,and his teeth grated against the metal,but made no impression on it.Doubtless the guariba thought he had found some fruit of a new kind,a sort of huge almost brilliant all over,and with a kernel playing freely in its shell.But if he soon discovered his mistake he did not consider it a reason for throwing the case away；on the contrary,he grasped it more tightly in his left hand,and dropped the cudgel,which broke off a dry twig in its fall.

At this noise Torres woke,and with the quickness of those who are alwayson the watch,with whom there is no transition from the sleeping to the waking state,was immediately on his legs.

In an instant Torres had recognized with whom he had to deal.

“A guariba！”he cried.

And his hand seizing his manchetta,he put himself into a posture of defense.

The monkey,alarmed,jumped back at once,and not so brave before a waking man as a sleeping one,performed a rapid caper,and glided under the trees.

“It was time！”said Torres；“the rogue would have settled me without any ceremony！”

Of a sudden,between the hands of the monkey,who had stopped at about twenty paces,and was watching him with violent grimaces,as if he would like to snap his fingers at him,he caught sight of his precious case.

“The beggar！”he said.“If he has not killed me,he has done what is almost as bad.He has robbed me！”

The thought that the case held his money was not however,what then concerned him.But that which made him jump was the recollection that it contained the precious document,the loss of which was irreparable,as it carried with it that of all his hopes.

“Botheration！”said he.

And at the moment,cost what it might to recapture his case,Torres threw himself in pursuit of the guariba.

He knew that to reach such an active animal was not easy.On the ground he could get away too fast,in the branches he could get away too far.A well-aimed gunshot could alone stop him as he ran or climbed,but Torres possessed no firearm.His sword-knife and hoe were useless unless he could get near enough to hit him.

It soon became evident that the monkey could not be reached unless by surprise.Hence Torres found it necessary to employ cunning in dealing with the mischievous animal.To stop,to hide himself behind some tree trunk,to disappear under a bush,might induced the guariba to pull up and retrace hissteps,and there was nothing else for Torres to try.This was what he did,and the pursuit commenced under these conditions；but when the captain of the woods disappeared,the monkey patiently waited until he came into sight again,and at this game Torres fatigued himself without result.

“Confound the guariba！”he shouted at length.“There will be no end to this,and he will lead me back to the Brazilian frontier.If only he would let go of my case！But no！The jingling of the money amuses him.Oh,you thief！If I could only get hold of you！”

And Torres recommenced the pursuit,and the monkey scuttled off with renewed vigor.

An hour passed in this way without any resuit.Torres showed a persistency which was quite natural.How without this document could he get his money？

And then anger seized him.He swore,he stamped,he threatened the guariba.That annoying animal only responded by a chuckling which was enough to put him beside himself.

And then Torres gave himself up to the chase.He ran at top speed,entangling himself in the high undergrowth,among those thick brambles and interlacing creepers,across which the guariba passed like a steeplechaser.Big roots hidden beneath the grass lay often in the way.He stumbled over them and again started in pursuit.At length,to his astonishment,he found himself shouting：

“Come here！come here！you robber！”as if he could make him understand him.

His strength gave out,breath failed him,and he was obliged to stop.“Confound it！”said he，“when I am after runaway slaves across the jungle they never give me such trouble as this！But I will have you,you wretched monkey！I will go,yes,I will go as far as my legs will carry me,and we shall see！”

The guariba had remained motionless when he saw that the adventurer had ceased to pursue him.He rested also,for he had nearly reached that degree of exhaustion which had forbidden all movement on the part of Torres.

He remained like this during ten minutes,nibbling away at two or three roots,which he picked off the ground,and from time to time he rattled the caseat his ear.

Torres,driven to distraction,picked up the stones within his reach,and threw them at him,but did no harm at such a distance.

But he hesitated to make a fresh start.On one hand,to keep on in chase of the monkey with so little chance of reaching him was madness.On the other,to accept as definite this accidental interruption to all his plans,to be not only conquered,but cheated and hoaxed by a dumb animal,was maddening.And in the meantime Torres had begun to think that when the night came the robber would disappear without trouble,and he,the robbed one,would find a difficulty in retracing his way through the dense forest.In fact,the pursuit had taken him many miles from the bank of the river,and he would even now find it difficult to return to it.

Torres hesitated；he tried to resume his thoughts with coolness,and finally,after giving vent to a last imprecation,he was about to abandon all idea of regaining possession of his case,when once more,in spite of himself,there flashed across him the thought of his document,the remembrance of all that scaffolding on which his future hopes depended,on which he had counted so much；and he resolved to make another effort.

Then he got up.

The guariba got up too.

He made several steps in advance.

The monkey made as many in the rear,but this time,instead of plunging more deeply into the forest,he stopped at the foot of an enormous ficus-the tree of which the different kinds are so numerous all over the Upper Amazon basin.

To seize the trunk with his four hands,to climb with the agility of a clown who is acting the monkey,to hook on with his prehensile tail to the first branches,which stretched away horizontally at forty feet from the ground,and to hoist himself to the top of the tree,to the point where the higher branches just bent beneath its weight,was only sport to the active guariba,and the work of but a few seconds.

Up there,installed at his ease,he resumed his interrupted repast,and gathered the fruits which were within his reach.Torres,like him,was much in want of something to eat and drink,but it was impossible！His pouch was flat,his flask was empty.

However,instead of retracing his steps he directed them toward the tree,although the position taken up by the monkey was still more unfavorable for him.He could not dream for one instant of climbing the ficus,which the thief would have quickly abandoned for another.

And all the time the miserable case rattled at his ear.

Then in his fury,in his folly,Torres apostrophized the guariba.It would be impossible for us to tell the series of invectives in which he indulged.Not only did he call him a halfbreed,which is the greatest of insults in the mouth of a Brazilian of white descent,but“curiboca”-that is to say,half-breed negro and Indian,and of all the insults that one man can hurl at another in this equatorial latitude“curiboca”is the cruelest.

But the monkey,who was only a humble quadruman,was simply amused at what would have revolted a representative of humanity.

Then Torres began to throw stones at him again,and bits of roots and everything he could get hold of that would do for a missile.Had he the hope to seriously hurt the monkey？No！he no longer knew what he was about.To tell the troth,anger at his powerlessness had deprived him of his wits.Perhaps he hoped that in one of the movements which the guariba would make in passing from branch to branch the case might escape him,perhaps he thought that if he continued to worry the monkey he might throw it at his head.But no！the monkey did not part with the case,and,holding it with one hand,he had still three left with which to move.

Torres,in despair,was just about to abandon the chase for good,and to return toward the Amazon,when he heard the sound of voices.Yes！the sound of human voices.

Those were speaking at about twenty paces to the right of him.

The first care of Torres was to hide himself in a dense thicket.Like a prudent man,he did not wish to show himself without at least knowing with whom he might have to deal.Panting,puzzled,his ears on the stretch,he waited,when suddenly the sharp report of a gun rang through the woods.

A cry followed,and the monkey,mortally wounded,fell heavily on the ground,still holding Torres’case.

“By Jove！”he muttered，“that bullet came at the right time！”

And then,without fearing to be seen,he came out of the thicket,and two young gentlemen appeared from under the trees.

They were Brazilians clothed as hunters,with leather boots,light palm-leaf hats,waistcoats,or rather tunics,buckled in at the waist,and more convenient than he national poncho.By their features and their complexion they were at once recognizable as of Portuguese descent.

Each of them was armed with one of those long guns of Spanish make which slightly remind us of the arms of the Arabs,guns of long range and considerable precision,which the dwellers in the forest of the upper Amazon handle with success.

What had just happened was a proof of this.At an angular distance of more than eighty paces the quadruman had been shot full in the head.

The two young men carried in addition,in their belts,a sort of dagger-knife,which is known in Brazil as a“foca”，and which hunters do not hesitate to use when attacking the ounce and other wild animals which,if not very formidable,are pretty numerous in these forests.

Torres had obviously little to fear from this meeting,and so he went on running toward the monkey’s corpse.

But the young men,who were taking the same direction,had less ground to cover,and coming forward a few paces,found themselves face to face with Torres.

The latter had recovered his presence of mind.

“Many thanks,gentlemen，”said he gayly,as he raised the brim of his hat；“in killing this wretched animal you have just done me a great service！”

The hunters looked at him inquiringly,not knowing what value to attach to his thanks.

Torres explained matters in a few words.

“You thought you had killed a monkey，”said he，“but as it happens you have killed a thief！”

“If we have been of use to you，”said the youngest of the two，“it was by accident,but we are none the less pleased to find that we have done some good.”

And taking several steps to the rear,he bent over the guariba,and,not without an effort,withdrew the case from his stiffened hand.

“Doubtless that,sir,is what belongs to you？”

“The very thing，”said Torres briskly,catching hold of the case and failing to repress a huge sigh of relief.

“Whom ought I to thank,gentlemen，”said he，“for the service you have rendered me？”

“My friend,Manoel,assistant surgeon,Brazilian army，”replied the young man.

“If it was I who shot the monkey,Benito，”said Manoel，“it was you that pointed him out to me.”

“In that case,sirs，”replied Torres，“I am under an obligation to you both,as well to you,Mr.Manoel,as to you,Mr.—”

“Benito Garral，”replied Manoel.

The captain of the woods required great command over himself to avoid giving a jump when he heard this name,and more especially when the young man obligingly continued：

“My father,Joam Garral,has his farm about three miles from here.If you would like,Mr，—”

“Torres，”replied the adventurer.

“If you would like to accompany us there,Mr.Torres,you will be hospitably received.”

“I do not know that I can，”said Torres,who,surprised by this unexpected meeting,hesitated to make a start.“I fear in truth that I am not able to accept your offer.The occurrence I have just related to you has caused me to lose time.It is necessary for me to return at once to the Amazon-as I purpose descending thence to Para.”

“Very well,Mr.Torres，”replied Benito，“it is not unlikely that we shall see you again in our travels,for before a month has passed my father and all his family will have taken the same road as you.”

“Ah！”said Torres sharply，“your father is thinking of recrossing the Brazilian frontier？”

“Yes,for a voyage of some months，”replied Benito.“At least we hope tomake him decide so.Don’t we,Manoel？”

Manoel nodded affirmatively.

“Well,gentlemen，”replied Tortes，“it is very probable that we shall meet again on the road.But I cannot,much to my regret,accept your offer now.I thank you,nevertheless,and I consider myself as twice your debtor.”

And having said so,Torres saluted the young men,who in turn saluted him,and set out on their way to the farm.

As for Torres he looked after them as they got further and further away,and when he had lost sight of them.

“Ah！he is about to recross the frontier！”said he,with a deep voice.“Let him recross it！And he will be still more at my mercy！Pleasant journey to you,Joam Garral！”

And having uttered these words the captain of the woods,making for the south so as to regain the left bank of the river by the shortest road,disappeared into the dense forest.第三章　贾雷尔一家导读

亚马逊河左岸，一个高出河岸六十多尺的空地上，坐落着夷奎陀斯村。顺亚马逊河向下四公里，有一座漂亮的建筑，这就是乔恩·贾雷尔的庄园。

当地人称庄园为“法藏达”，庄园坐落在马腊尼翁河与纳奈河的交汇处，北部离纳奈河的左岸仅一英里，东部离马腊尼翁河也是一英里。乔恩·贾雷尔是在二十六年前的一八二六年被“法藏达”的主人收留的。

经营本地木材生意的葡萄牙人玛加拉埃斯是当时的庄园主，他与女儿雅基塔在一起生活。玛加拉埃斯的妻子已经去世，他管理着十几个印第安雇工，当时生意不兴旺。他收留了被饥饿和疲劳折磨得已奄奄一息的乔恩·贾雷尔，并使他恢复了健康。

乔恩出生在巴西，受过教育，有着痛苦的回忆，希望寻找一种新的生活，庄主留下了他来打理庄园。

乔恩留下后，庄园的生意有了起色。庄园不断扩大，又开垦了一大片草场，饲养了大群的牲口，种植了木薯、咖啡及甘蔗等作物。十年后，夷奎陀斯庄园已成为亚马逊河最富裕的地方之一，这一切都归功于乔恩。庄园主先让他分红，后又让他成为和自己一样的合伙人。庄园主美丽的女儿雅基塔也爱上了乔恩。

一天，玛加拉埃斯被树砸成重伤，他觉得自己将不久于人世了，于是便把雅基塔的手放到乔恩的手中，让他们结为了夫妻。

乔恩表示，自己可以做雅基塔的忠诚仆人和亲人，忠实地保护她，但不能娶她，因为自己已经得到很多了。但在老人的坚持下他没法推辞。于是二十二岁的雅基塔和二十六岁的乔恩在老人去世前几小时结合在了一起。

一八三零年乔恩成了庄园的新主人，雇工们也都很满意，庄园更加昌盛。一年后他们有了儿子柏里托，两年后又有了女儿米娜。

米娜在母亲和父亲的教育下成了最有魅力的姑娘。柏里托十二岁时被送到帕拉省的贝伦市学习，他精通文学、艺术、科学，是一个正直、果断、高尚的人。学习中，柏里托认识了商人的儿子——马诺埃尔·瓦尔代斯，他俩的兴趣、性格相似，成了最好的朋友。

马诺埃尔比柏里托大一岁，生于一八三二年，他的父亲已去世，母亲靠丈夫留下的一点财产生活。马诺埃尔现在学医，想进入军队当医生，并已取得了最低军衔，现在正度假，他已经和米娜相爱了。

四十八岁的乔恩没什么不良嗜好，他有温和的外表和坚强的意志。对任何事情从不轻言放弃。但他的身上总是流露出一种深深的悲伤，这使雅基塔十分担心。

四十四岁的雅基塔依然是那么美丽，并有着葡萄牙人特有的气质。二十一岁的柏里托青春、活泼，是个情感藏不住的人，与马诺埃尔的严肃和喜欢思考形成了鲜明的对比。

二十岁的米娜有着棕色的皮肤、蓝色的大眼睛、优美的中等身材，和她的妈妈一样心地善良。米娜得到了大家的喜欢。

六十岁的黑奴西贝尔已被老庄主宣布为自由人了，她是雅基塔的乳母，已离不开这个家庭了。服侍米娜的女仆丽娜性格温柔、忠心耿耿，虽有一点儿任性，但和主人之间的关系都非常好。

庄园里有一百多个印第安人雇工和二百多个黑奴。乔恩已经让黑奴的子女们都成了自由人，在这里也没有虐待黑奴的事情发生。he Village of Iquitos is situated on the left bank of the Amazon,nearthe seventy-fourth meridian,on that portion of the Tgreat river which still bears the name of the MarLaciticnon and of which the bed separates Peru from the republic of Ecuador.It is about fifty-five leagues to the west of the Brazilian frontier.

Iquitos,like every other collection of huts,hamlet,or village met with inthe basin of the Upper Amazon,was founded by the missionaries.Up to the seventeenth year of the century the Iquito Indians,who then formed the entire population,were settled in the interior of the province at some distance from the fiver.But one day the springs in their territory all dried up under the influence of a volcanic eruption,and they were obliged to come and take up their abode on the left of the Maranon.The race soon altered through the alliances which were entered into with the riverine Indians,Ticunas,or Omaguas,mixed descent with a few Spaniards,and today Iquitos has a population of two or three families of half-breeds.

The village is most picturesquely grouped on a kind of esplanade,and runs along at about sixty feet from the river.It consists of some forty miserable huts,whose thatched roofs only just render them worthy of the name of cottages.A stairway made of crossed trunks of trees leads up to the village,which lies hidden from the traveler’s eyes until the steps have been ascended.Once at the top he finds himself before an inclosure admitting of slight defense,and consisting of many different shrubs and arborescent plants,attached to each other by festoons of lianas,which here and there have made their way above the summits of the graceful palms and banana-trees.

At the time we speak of the Indians of Iquitos went about in almost a state of nudity.The Spaniards and half-breeds alone were clothed,and much as they scorned their indigenous fellow-citizens,wore only a simple shirt,light cotton trousers,and a straw hat.All lived cheerlessly enough in the village,mixing little together,and if they did meet occasionally,it was only at such times as the bell of the mission called them to the dilapidated cottage which served them for a church.

But if existence in the village of Iquitos,as in most of the hamlets of the Upper Amazon,was almost in a rudimentary stage,it was only necessary to journey a league further down the river to find on the same bank a wealthy settlement,with all the elements of comfortable life.

This was the farm of Joam Garral,toward which our two young friends returned after their meeting with the captain of the woods.

There,on a bend of the stream,at the junction of the River Nanay,which is here about five hundred feet across,there had been established for manyyears this farm,homestead,or,to use the expression of the country，“fazenda”，then in the height of its prosperity.The Nanay with its left bank bounded it to the north for about a mile,and for nearly the same distance to the east it ran along the bank of the larger river.To the west some small rivulets,tributaries of the Nanay,and some lagoons of small extent,separated it from the savannah and the fields devoted to the pasturage of the cattle.

It was here that Joam Garral,in 1826，twenty-six years before the date when our story opens,was received by the proprietor of the fazenda.

This Portuguese,whose name was Magalhas,followed the trade of timber-felling,and his settlement,then recently formed,extended for about half a mile along the bank of the river.

There,hospitable as he was,like all the Portuguese of the old race,Magalhas lived with his daughter Yaquita,who after the death of her mother had taken charge of his household.Magalhas was an excellent worker,inured to fatigue,but lacking education.If he understood the management of the few slaves whom he owned,and the dozen Indians whom he hired,he showed himself much less apt in the various external requirements of his trade.In truth,the establishment at Iquitos was not prospering,and the affairs of the Portuguese were getting somewhat embarrassed.

It was under these circumstances that Joam Garral,then twenty-two years old,found himself one day in the presence of Magalhas.He had arrived in the country at the limit both of his strength and his resources.Magalhas had found him half-dead with hunger and fatigue in the neighboring forest.The Portuguese had an excellent heart；he did not ask the unknown where he came from,but what he wanted.The noble,high-spirited look which Joam Garral bore in spite of his exhaustion had touched him.He received him,restored him,and,for several days to begin with,offered him a hospitality which lasted for his life.

Under such conditions it was that Joam Garral was introduced to the farm at Iquitos.

Brazilian by birth,Joam Garral was without family or fortune.Trouble,he said,had obliged him to quit his country and abandon all thoughts of return.He askbd his host to excuse his entering on his past misfortunes-misfortunes asserious as they were unmerited.What he sought,and what he wished,was a new life,a life of labor.He had started on his travels with some slight thought of entering a fazenda in the interior.He was educated,intelligent.He had in all his bearing that inexpressible something which tells you that the man is genuine and of frank and upright character.Magalhas,quite taken with him,asked him to remain at the farm,where he would,in a measure,supply that which was wanting in the worthy farmer.

Joam Garral accepted the offer without hesitation.His intention had been to join a“seringal，”or caoutchouc concern,in which in those days a good workman could earn from five to six piastres a day,and could hope to become a master if he had any luck；but Magalhas very truly observed that if the pay was good,work was only found in the seringals at harvest time-that is to say,during only a few months of the year-and this would not constitute the permanent position that a young man ought to wish for.

The Portuguese was right.Joam Garral saw it,and entered resolutely into the service of the fazenda,deciding to devote to it all his powers.

Magalhas had no cause to regret his generous action.His business recovered.His wood trade,which extended by means of the Amazon up to Para,was soon considerably extended under the impulse of Joam Garral.The fazenda began to grow in proportion,and to spread out along the bank of the river up to its junction with the Nanay.A delightful residence was made of the house；it was raised a story,surrounded by a veranda,and half hidden under beautiful trees-mimosas,fig-sycamores,bauhinias,and paullinias,whose trunks were invisible beneath a network of scarlet-floweredbromelias and passion-flowers.

At a distance,behind huge bushes and a dense mass of arborescent plants,were concealed the buildings in which the staff of the fazenda were accommodated-the servants’offices,the cabins of the blacks,and the huts of the Indians.From the bank of the river,bordered with reeds and aquatic plants,the treeencircled house was alone visible.

A vast meadow,laboriously cleared along the lagoons,offered excellent pasturage.Cattle abounded-a new source of profit in these fertile countries,where a herd doubles in four years,and where ten per cent interest is earned bynothing more than the skins and the hides of the animals killed for the consumption of those who raise them！A few“sitios，”or manioc and coffee plantations,were started in parts of the woods which were cleared.Fields of sugarcanes soon required the construction of a mill to crush the sacchariferous stalks destined to be used hereafter in the manufacture of molasses,tafia,and rum.In short,ten years after the arrival of Joam Garral at the farm at Iquitos the fazenda had become one of the richest establishments on the Upper Amazon.Thanks to the good management exercised by the young clerk over the works at home and the business abroad,its prosperity daily increased.

The Portuguese did not wait so long to acknowledge what he owed to Joam Garral.In order to recompense him in proportion to his merits he had from the first given him an interest in the profits of his business,and four years after his arrival he had made him a partner on the same footing as himself,and with equal shares.

But there was more that he had in store for him.Yaquita,his daughter,had,in this silent young man,so gentle to others,so stern to himself,recognized the sterling qualities which her father had done.She was in love with him,but though on his side Joam had not remained insensible to the merits and the beauty of this excellent girl,he was too proud and reserved to dream of asking her to marry him.

A serious incident hastened the solution.

Magalhas was one day superintending a clearance and was mortally wounded by the fall of a tree.Carried home helpless to the farm,and feeling himself lost,he raised up Yaquita,who was weeping by his side,took her hand,and put it into that of Joam Garral,making him swear to take her for his wife.

“You have made my fortune，”he said，“and I shall not die in peace unless by this union I know that the fortune of my daughter is assured.”

“I can continue her devoted servant,her brother,her protector,without being her husband，”Joam Garral had at first replied，“I owe you all,Magalhas.I will never forget it,but the price you would pay for my endeavors is out of all proportion to what they are worth.”

The old man insisted.Death would not allow him to wait；he demanded the promise,and it was made to him.

Yaquita was then twenty-two years old,Joam was twenty-six.They loved each other and they were married some hours before the death of Magalhas,who had just strength left to bless heir union.

It was under these circumstances that in 1830 Joam Garral became the new fazender of Iquitos,to the immense satisfaction of all those who composed the staff of the farm.

The prosperity of the settlement could not do otherwise than grow then these two minds were thus united.

A year after her marriage Yaquita presented her husband with a son,and,two years after,a daughter.Benito and Minha,the grandchildren of the old Portuguese,became worthy of their grandfather,children worthy of Joam and Yaquita.

The daughter grew to be one of the most charming of girls.She never left the fazenda.Brought up in pure and healthy surroundings,in the midst of the beauteous nature of the tropics,the education given to her by her mother,and the instruction received by her from her father,were ample.What more could she have learned in a convent at Manaos or Belem？Where would she have found better examples of the domestic virtues？Would her mind and feelings have been more delicately formed away from her home？If it was ordained that she was not to succeed her mother in the management of the fazenda,she was equal to say any other position to which she might be called.

With Benito it was another thing.His father very wisely wished him to receive as solid and complete an education as could then be obtained in the large towns of Brazil.There was nothing which the rich fazender refused his son.Benito was possessed of a cheerful disposition,an active mind,a lively intelligence,and qualities of heart equal to those of his head.At the age of twelve he was sent into Para,to Belem,and there,under the direction of excellent professors,he acquired the elements of an education which could not but eventually make him a distinguished man.Nothing in literature,in the sciences,in the arts,was a stranger to him.He studied as if the fortune of his father would not allow him to remain idle.He was not among such as imagine that riches exempt men from work-he was one of those noble characters,resolute and just,who believe that nothing should diminish our naturalobligation in this respect if we wish to be worthy of the name of men.

During the first years of his residence at Belem,Benito had made the acquaintance of Manoel Valdez.This young man,the son of a merchant in Para,was pursuing his studies in the same institution as Benito.The conformity of their characters and their tastes proved no barrier to their uniting in the closest of friendships,and they became inseparable companions.

Manoel,born in 1832，was one year older than Benito.He had only a mother,and she lived on the modest fortune which her husband had left her.When Manoel’s preliminary studies were finished,he had taken up the subject of medicine.He had a passionate taste for that noble profession,and his intention was to enter the army,toward which he felt himself attracted.

At the time that we saw him with his friend Benito,Manoel Valdez had already obtained his first step,and he had come away on leave for some months to the fazenda,where he was accustomed to pass his holidays.Well-built,and of distinguished bearing,with a certain native pride which,became him well,the young man was treated by Joam and Yaquita as another son.But if this quality of son made him the brother of Benito,the title was scarcely appreciated by him when Minha was concerned,for he soon became attached to the young girl by a bond more intimate than could exist between brother and sister.

In the year 1852-of which four months had already passed before the commencement of this history-Joam Garral attained the age of forty-eight years.In that sultry climate,which wears men away so quickly,he had known how,by sobriety,self-denial,suitable living,and constant work,to remain untouched where others had prematurely succumbed.His hair,which he wore short,and his beard,which was full,had already grown gray,and gave him the look of a Puritan.The proverbial honesty of the Brazilian merchants and fazenders showed itself in his features,of which straightforwardness was the leading characteristic.His calm temperament seemed to indicate an interior fire,kept well under control.The fearlessness of his look denoted a deep-rooted strength,to which,when danger threatened,he could never appeal in vain.

But,notwithstanding one could not help remarking about this quiet man of vigorous health,with whom all things had succeeded in life,a depth of sadnesswhich even the tenderness of Yaquita had not been able to subdue.

Respected by all,placed in all the conditions that would seem necessary to happiness,why was not this just man more cheerful and less reserved？Why did he seem to be happy for others and not for himself？Was this disposition attributable to some secret grief？Herein was a constant source of anxiety to his wife.

Yaquita was now forty-four.In that tropical country where women are already old at thirty she had learned the secret of resisting the climate’s destructive influences,and her features,a little sharpened but still beautiful,retained the haughty outline of the Portuguese type,in which nobility of face unites so naturally with dignity of mind.

Benito and Minha responded with an affection unbounded and unceasing for the love which their parents bore them.

Benito was now aged twenty-one,and quick,brave,and sympathetic,contrasted outwardly with his friend Manoel,who was more serious and reflective.It was a great treat for Benito,after quite a year passed at Belem,so far from the fazenda,to return with his young friend to his home to see once more his father,his mother,his sister,and to find himself,enthusiastic hunter as he was,in the midst of these superb forests of the Upper Amazon,some of whose secrets remained after so many centuries still unsolved by man.

Minha was twenty years old.A lovely girl,brunette,and with large blue eyes,eyes which seemed to open into her very soul；of middle height,good figure,and winning grace,in every way the very image of Yaquita.A little more serious than her brother,affable,goodnatured,and charitable,she was beloved by all.On this subject you could fearlessly interrogate the humblest servants of the fazenda.It was unnecessary to ask her brother’s friend,Manoel Valdez,what he thought of her.He was too much interested in the question to have replied without a certain amount of partiatity.

This sketch of the Garral family would not be complete,and would lack some of its features,were we not to mention the numerous staff of the fazenda.

In the first place,then,it behooves us to name an old negress,of some sixty years,called Cybele,free through the will of her master,a slave through her affection for him and his,and who had been the nurse of Yaquita.She wasone of the family.She thee-ed and thou-ed both daughter and mother.The whole of this good creature’s life was passed in these fields,in the middle of these forests,on that bank of the river which bounded the horizon of the farm.Coming as a child to Iquitos in the slave-trading times,she had never quitted the village；she was married there,and early a widow,hao lost her only son,and remained in the service of Magalhas.Of the Amazon she knew no more than what flowed before her eyes.

With her,and more specially attached to the service of Minha,was a pretty,laughing mulatto,of the same age as her mistress,to whom she was completely devoted.She was called Lina.One of those gentle creatures,a little spoiled,perhaps,to whom a good deal of familiarity is allowed,but who in return adore their mistresses.Quick,restless,coaxing,and lazy,she could do what she pleased in the house.

As for servants they were of two kinds-Indians,of whom there were about a hundred,employed always for the works of the fazenda,and blacks to about double the number,who were not yet free,but whose children were not born slaves.Joam Garral had herein preceded the Brazilian government.In this country,moreover,the negroes coming from Benguela,the Congo,or the Gold Coast were always treated with kindness,and it was not at the fazenda of Iquitos that one would look for those sad examples of cruelty which were so frequent on foreign plantations.第四章　犹豫导读

马诺埃尔爱上米娜后，告诉了柏里托，柏里托很高兴。这件事只过了半个小时就得到了母亲的答复；十分钟后，他和妹妹讲了此事，米娜也马上做出了回答。他们想，乔恩·贾雷尔也会同意的。现在主要考虑的是婚礼在哪里举行，乔恩可能希望婚礼在夷奎陀斯村的庄园举行，并邀请庄园的所有人参加。

但米娜对马诺埃尔说，她希望去帕拉，在马诺埃尔的母亲那里举行。她妈妈也同意这样做，米娜希望说服爸爸一起去。这也是马诺埃尔的心愿，他当然愿意这么做。那天他们去打猎就是为了让雅基塔单独和丈夫在一起说说这件事情。

那天下午，他们在客厅坐下，雅基塔告诉了乔恩马诺埃尔对米娜的感情有多深。雅基塔知道，丈夫来到秘鲁后就没离开过这里，有几次她曾暗示丈夫离开这里几星期，但遭到了拒绝，并看到他脸上出现了悲伤的神情。

这一次米娜结婚是个好机会，米娜将要去见马诺埃尔的母亲，乔恩应该不会再犹豫了。所以她把米娜和马诺埃尔结婚的事说了出来，乔恩没有听完就站了起来，他有点儿控制不住自己。随后乔恩又坐了下来，问婚礼在哪里举行、什么时间举行。

雅基塔告诉丈夫，希望他带着自己和女儿去帕拉及亚马逊下游的其他地方看一下，然后陪着女儿去贝伦，认识一下马诺埃尔的母亲瓦尔代斯夫人，并说当年他们结婚时，如果乔恩的母亲在也会希望参加婚礼的。乔恩听后颤抖了一下。

随后雅基塔又说希望带上女儿和儿子到巴西看看，到亚马逊河的下游看看。她又说他们都希望婚礼在贝伦举行，孩了们都盼望着他能答应。乔恩将脸埋在双手中，沉默了几分钟，站起来走到门口，然后回到妻子身边问啥时动身。

雅基塔听到他同意了，惊喜得流下了眼泪，孩子们在门外也激动得欢呼起来，他们亲吻了父亲。

乔恩决定到贝伦再定婚礼的日子，姑娘马上到屋里找地图，她要先熟悉一下亚马逊河流域的情况。anoel was in love with the sister of his friend Benito,and she wasin love with him.Each was sensible of the other’s worth,and Meach was worthy of the other.

When he was no longer able to mistake the state of his feelings toward Minha,Manoel had opened his heart to Benito.

“Manoel,my friend，”had immediately answered the enthusiastic young fellow，“you could not do better than wish to marry my sister.Leave it to me！I will commence by speaking to the mother,and I think I can promise that you will not have to wait long for her consent.”

Half an hour afterward he had done so.

Benito had nothing to tell his mother which she did not know；Yaquita had already divined the young people’s secret.

Before ten minutes had elapsed Benito was in the presence of Minha.They had but to agree；there was no need for much eloquence.At the first words the head of the gentle girl was laid on her brother’s shoulder,and the confession，“I am so happy！”was whispered from her heart.

The answer almost came before the question；that was obvious.Benito did not ask for more.

There could be little doubt as to Joam Garral’s consent.But if Yaquita and her children did not at once speak to him about the marriage,it was because they wished at the same time to touch on a question which might be more difficult to solve.That question was,where should the wedding take place？

Where should it be celebrated？In the humble cottage which served for thevillage church？Why not？Joam and Yaquita had there received the nuptial benediction of the Padre Passanha,who was then the curate of Iquitos parish.At that time,as now,there was no distinction in Brazil between the civil and religious acts,and the registers of the mission were sufficient testimony to a ceremony which no officer of the civil power was intrusted to attend to.

Joam Garral would probably wish the marriage to take place at Iquitos,with grand ceremonies and the attendance of the whole staff of the fazenda,but if such was to be his idea he would have to withstand a vigorous attack concerning it.

“Manoel，”Minha said to her betrothed，“if I was consulted in the matter we should not be married here,but at Para.Madame Valdez is an invalid；she cannot visit Iquitos,and I should not like to become her daughter without knowing and being known by her.My mother agrees with me in thinking so.We should like to persuade my father to take us to Belem.Do you not think so？”

To this proposition Manoel had replied by pressing Minha’s hand.He also had a great wish for his mother to be present at his marriage.Benito had approved the scheme without hesitation,and it was only necessary to persuade Joam Garral.And hence on this day the young men had gone out hunting in the woods,so as to leave Yaquita alone with her husband.

In the afternoon these two were in the large room of the house.Joam Garral,who had just come in,was half-reclining on a couch of plaited bamboos,when Yaquita,a little anxious,came and seated herself beside him.

To tell Joam of the feelings which Manoel entertained toward his daughter was not what troubled her.The happiness of Minha could not but be assured by the marriage,and Joam would be glad to welcome to his arms the new son whose sterling qualities he recognized and appreciated.But to persuade her husband to leave the fazenda Yaquita felt to be a very serious matter.

In fact,since Joam Garral,then a young man,had arrived in the country,he had never left it for a day.Though the sight of the Amazon,with its waters gently flowing to the east,invited him to follow its course；though Joam every year sent rafts of wood to Manaos,to Belem,and the seacoast of Para；though he had seen each year Benito leave after his holidays to return to his studies,yet the thought seemed never to have occurred to him to go with him.

The products of the farm,of the forest,and of the fields,the fazender sold on the spot.He had not wish,either with thought or look,to go beyond the horizon which bounded his Eden.

From this it followed that for twenty-five years Joam Garral had never crossed the Brazilian frontier,his wife and daughter had never set foot on Brazilian soil.The longing to see something of that beautiful country of which Benito was often talking was not wanting,nevertheless.Two or three times Yaquita had sounded her husband in the matter.But she had noticed that the thought of leaving the fazenda,if only for a few weeks,brought an increase of sadness to his face.His eyes would close,and in a tone of mild reproach he would answer：

“Why leave our home？Are we not comfortable here？”

And Yaquita,in the presence of the man whose active kindness and unchangeable tenderness rendered her so happy,had not the courage to persist.

This time,however,there was a serious reason to make it worth while.The marriage of Minha afforded an excellent opportunity,it being so natural for them to accompany her to Betem,where she was going to live with her husband.She would there see and learn to love the mother of Manoel Valdez.How could Joam Garral hesitate in the face of so praiseworthy a desire？Why,on the other hand,did he not participate in this desire to become acquainted with her who was to be the second mother of his child？

Yaquita took her husband’s hand,and with that gentle voice which had been to him all the music of his life：

“Joam，”she said，“I am going to talk to you about something which we ardently wish,and which will make you as happy as we are.”

“What is it about,Yaquita？”asked Joam.

“Manoel loves your daughter,he is loved by her,and in this union they will find the happiness—”

At the first words of Yaquita Joam Garral had risen,without being able to control a sudden start.His eyes were immediately cast down,and he seemed to designedly avoid the look of his wife.

“What is the matter with you？”asked she.

“Minha？To get married！”murmured Joam.

“My dear，”said Yaquita,feeling somewhat hurt，“have you any objection to make to the marriage？Have you not for some time noticed the feelings which Manoel has entertained toward our daughter？”

“Yes；and a year since—”

And Joam sat down without finishing his thoughts.By an effort of his will he had again become master of himself.The unaccountable impression which had been made upon him disappeared.Gradually his eyes returned to meet those of Yaquita,and he remained thoughtfully looking at her.

Yaquita took his hand.

“Joam，”she said，“have I been deceived？Had you no idea that this marriage would one day take place,and that it would give her every chance of happiness？”

“Yes，”answered Joam.“All！Certainly.But,Yaquita,this wedding-this wedding that we are both thinking of-when is it coming off？Shortly？”

“It will come off when you choose,Joam.”

“And it will take place here-at Iquitos？”

This question obliged Yaquita to enter on the other matter which she had at heart.She did not do so,however,without some hesitation,which was quite intelligible.

“Joam，”said she,after a moment’s silence，“listen to me.Regarding this wedding,I have got a proposal which I hope you will approve of.Two or three times during the last twenty years I have asked you to take me and my daughter to the provinces of the Lower Amazon,and to Para,where we have never been.The cares of the fazenda,the works which have required your presence,have not allowed you to grant our request.To absent yourself even for a few days would then have injured your business.But now everything has been successful beyond your dreams,and if the hour of repose has not yet come for you,you can at least for a few weeks get away from your work.”

Joam Garral did not answer,but Yaquita felt his hand tremble in hers,as though under the shock of some sorrowful recollection.At the same time a half-smile came to her husband’s lips-a mute invitation for her to finish what she had begun.

“Joam，”she continued，“here is an occasion which we shall never see again in this life.Minha is going to be married away from us,and is going to leave us！It is the first sorrow which our daughter has caused us,and my heart quails when I think of the separation which is so near！But I should be content if I could accompany her to Belem！Does it not seem right to you,even in other respects that we should know her husband’s mother,who is to replace me,and to whom we are about to entrust her？Added to this,Minha does not wish to grieve Madame Valdez by getting married at a distance from her.When we were married,Joam,if your mother had been alive,would you not have liked her to be present at your wedding？”

At these words of Yaquita Joam made a movement which he could not repress.

“My dear，”continued Yaquita，“with Minha,with our two sons,Benito and Manoel,with you,how 1 should like to see Brazil,and to journey down this splendid river,even to the provinces on the seacoast through which it runs！It seems to me that the separation would be so much less cruel！As we came back we should revisit our daughter in her house with her second mother.I would not think of her as gone I knew not where.I would fancy myself much less a stranger to the doings of her life.”

This time Joam had fixed his eyes on his wife and looked at her for some time without saying anything.

What ailed him？Why this hesitation to grant a request which was so just in itself-to say“Yes，”when it would give such pleasure to all who belonged to him？His business affairs could not afford a sufficient reason.A few weeks of absence would not compromise matters to such a degree.His manager would be able to take his place without any hitch in the fazenda.And yet all this time he hesitated.

Yaquita had taken both her husband’s hands in hers,and pressed them tenderly.

“Joam，”she said，“it is not a mere whim that I am asking you to grant.No！For a long time I have thought over the proposition I have just made to you；and if you consent,it will be the realization of my most cherished desire.Our children know why I am now talking to you.Minha,Benito,Manoel,all askthis favor,that we should accompany them.We would all rather have the wedding at Belem than at Iquitos.It will be better for your daughter,for her establishment,for the position which she will take at Belem,that she should arrive with her people,and appear less of a stranger in the town in which she will spend most of her life.”

Joam Garral leaned on his elbows.For a moment he hid his face in his hands,like a man who had to collect his thoughts before he made answer.There was evidently some hesitation which he was anxious to overcome,even some trouble which his wife felt but could not explain.A secret battle was being fought under that thoughtful brow.Yaquita got anxious,and almost reproached herself for raising the question.Anyhow,she was resigned to what Joam should decide.If the expedition would cost too much,she would silence her wishes；she would never more speak of leaving the fazenda,and never ask the reason for the inexplicable refusal.

Some minutes passed.Joam Garral rose.He went to the door,and did not return.Then he seemed to give a last look on that glorious nature,on that corner of the world where for twenty years of his life he had met with all his happiness.

Then with slow steps he returned to his wife.

His face bore a new expression,that of a man who had taken a last decision,and with whom irresolution had ceased.

“You are right，”he said,in a firm voice.“The journey is necessary.When shall we start？”

“Ah！Joam！my Joam！”cried Yaquita,in her joy.“Thank you for me！Thank you for them！”

And tears of affection came to her eyes as her husband clasped her to his heart.

At this moment happy voices were heard outside at the door of the house.

Manoel and Benito appeared an instant after at the threshold,almost at thesame moment as Minha entered the room.

“Children！your father consents！”cried Yaquita.“We are going to Belem！”

With a grave face,and without speaking a word,Joam Garral received thecongratulations of his son and the kisses of his daughter.

“And what date,father，”asked Benito，“have you fixed for the wedding？”

“Date？”answered Joam.“Date？We shall see.We will fix it at Belem.”

“I am so happy！I am so happy！”repeated Minha,as she had done on the day when she had first known of Manoel’s request.“We shall now see the Amazon in all its glory throughout its course through the provinces of Brazil！Thanks,father！”

And the young enthusiast,whose imagination was already stirred,continued to her brother and to Manoel：

“Let us be off to the library！Let us get hold of every book and every map that we can find which will tell us anything about this magnificent river system！Don’t let us travel like blind folks！I want to see everything and know everything about this king of the rivers of the earth！”第五章　亚马逊河导读

亚马逊河是世界上最长的河。一路上有二百多条支流注入其中，又有许多细流注入支流。河的四周有许多运河、湖泊和一些环礁湖。亚马逊河和它的大大小小的支流连通了南美北部的商业运输。从河口往上游三千英里的河道可以通巨型货轮，它每小时注入大西洋的河水就有两亿五千万吨，是世界上最伟大的河。

亚马逊河发源于秘鲁尤阿拉阿瓜县的劳里柯察湖，它一路水流平缓，只有经过山脉时，河道有些变窄。在安第斯山脉中段，河流产生落差形成了几个瀑布。亚马逊河有六分之五的河段都是可以通航的。亚马逊河从源头开始，就有许多支流汇入，在夷奎陀斯村的上游左岸有扇西贝河、玛罗纳河等五条大河汇入，右岸有莎莎普雅斯河等三条河汇入。

亚马逊河从赤道以南的低纬度地区流过，穿越世界上最美丽的国家，给它增加了壮美的景色。有人说亚马逊河流域的气候对人体健康无益，但阿加西兹教授认为由于轻风引起河水的蒸发，使那里的土地不那么灼人，使那里的气候舒适宜人。

一八五七年七月三十一日，巴西政府宣布，亚马逊河向所有国家开放，可以自由通航。由于这一地区的繁荣，有不少地方的土著人已经绝迹，有些部落的土著人也在逐渐减少。

马诺埃尔和柏里托坐在河边，看着流动的河水，马诺埃尔感觉时间过得真快，但想到旅行结束米娜才能成为他的妻子，又觉得时间漫长。he Largest river in the whole world！”said Benito to ManoelValdez,on the morrow.“T

They were sitting on the bank which formed the southern boundary of the fazenda,and looking at the liquid molecules passing slowly by,which,coming from the enormous range of the Andes,were on their road to lose themselves in the Atlantic Ocean eight hundred leagues away.

“And the river which carries to the sea the largest volume of water，”replied Manoel.

“A volume so considerable，”added Benito，“that it freshens the sea water for an immense distance from its mouth,and the force of whose current is felt by ships at eight leagues from the coast.”

“A river whose course is developed over more than thirty degrees of latitude.”

“And in a basin which from south to north does not comprise less than twenty-five degrees.”

“A basin！”exclaimed Benito.“Can you call it a basin,the vast plain through which it runs,the savannah which on all sides stretches out of sight,without a hill to give a gradient,without a mountain to bound the horizon？”

“And along its whole extent，”continued Manoel，“like the thousand tentacles of some gigantic polyp,two hundred tributaries,flowing from north or south,themselves fed by smaller affluents without number,by the side of which the large rivers of Europe are but petty streamlets.”

“And in its course five hundred and sixty islands,without counting islets,drifting or stationary,forming a kind of archipelago,and yielding of themselves the wealth of a kingdom！”

“And along its flanks canals,lagoons,and lakes,such as cannot be met with even in Switzerland,Lombardy,Scotland,or Canada.”

“A river which,fed by its myriad tributaries,discharges into the Atlantic over two hundred and fifty millions of cubic meters of water every hour.”

“A river whose course serves as the boundary of two republics,and sweeps majestically across the largest empire of South America,as if it were,in very truth,the Pacific Ocean itself flowing out along its own canal into theAtlantic.”

And what a mouth！An arm of the sea in which one island,Marajo,has a circumference of more than five hundred leagues！

“And whose waters the ocean does not pond back without raising in a strife which is phenomenal,a tide-race,or‘pororoca，’to which the ebbs,the bores,and the eddies of other rivers are but tiny ripples fanned up by the breeze.”

“A river which three names are scarcely enough to distinguish,and which ships of heavy tonnage,without any change in their cargoes,can ascend for more than three thousand miles from its mouth.”

“A river which,by itself,its affluents,and subsidiary streams,opens a navigable commercial route across the whole of the south of the continent,passing from the Magdalena to the Ortequazza,from the Ortequazza to the Caqueta,from the Caqueta to the Putumayo,from the Putumayo to the Amazon！Four thousand miles of waterway,which only require a few canals to make the network of navigation complete！”

“In short,the biggest and most admirable river system which we have in the world.”

The two young men were speaking in a kind of frenzy of their incomparable river.They were themselves children of this great Amazon,whose affluents,well worthy of itself,from the highways which penetrate Bolivia,Peru,Ecuador,New Grenada,Venezuela,and the four Guianas-English,French,Dutch and Brazilian.

What nations,what races,has it seen whose origin is lost in the far-distant past！It is one of the largest rivers of the globe.Its true source still baffles our explorers.Numbers of States still claim the honor of giving it birth.The Amazon was not likely to escape the inevitable fate,and Peru,Ecuador,and Colombia have for years disputed as to the honor of its glorious paternity.

Today,however,there seems to be little doubt but that the Amazon rises in Peru,in the district of Huaraco,in the department of Tarma,and that it starts from the Lake of Lauricocha,which is situated between the eleventh and twelfth degree of south latitude.

Those who make the river rise in Bolivia,and descend form the mountainsof Titicaca,have to prove that the true Amazon is the Ucayali,which is formed by the junction of the Paro and the Apurimac-an assertion which is now generally rejected.

At its departure from Lake Lauricocha the youthful river starts toward the northeast for a distance of five hundred and sixty miles,and does not strike to the west until it has received an important tributary-the Panta.It is called the Maranon in its journey through Colombia and Peru up to the Brazilian frontier-or,rather,the Maranhao,for Maranon is only the French rendering of the Portuguese name.

From the frontier of Brazil to Manaos,where the superb Rio Negro joins it,it takes the name of the Solimaos or Solimoens,from the name of the Indian tribe Solimao,of which survivors are still found in the neighboring provinces.And,finally,from Manaos to the sea it is the Amasenas,or river of the Amazons,a name given it by the old Spaniards,the descendants of the adventurous Orellana,whose vague but enthusiastic stories went to show that there existed a tribe of female warriors on the Rio Nhamunda,one of the middlesized affluents of the great river.

From its commencement the Amazon is recognizable as destined to become a magnificent stream.There are neither rapids nor obstacles of any sort until it reaches a defile where its course is slightly narrowed between two picturesque and unequal precipices.No falls are met with until this point is reached,where it curves to the eastward,and passes through the intermediary chain of the Andes.Hereabouts are a few waterfalls,were it not for which the river would be navigable from its mouth to its source.As it is,however,according the Humboldt,the Amazon is free for five-sixths of its length.

And from its first starting there is no lack of tributaries,which are themselves fed by subsidiary streams.There is the Chinchipa,coming from the northeast,on its left.On its right it is joined by the Chachapoyas,coming from the northeast.On the left we have the Marona and the Pastuca；and the Guallaga comes in from the right near the mission station of Laguna.On the left there comes the Chambyra and the Tigri？flowing from the northeast；and on the right the Huallaga,which joins the main stream twenty-eight hundred miles from the Atlantic,and can be ascended by steamboats for over twohundred miles into the very heart of Peru.To the right,again,near the mission of San Joachim d’Omaguas,just where the upper basin terminates,and after flowing majestically across the pampas of Sacramento,it receives the magnificent Ucayali,the great artery which,fed by numerous affluents,descends from Lake Chucuito,in the northeast of Arica.

Such are the principal branches above the village of Iquitos.Down the stream the tributaries become so considerable that the beds of most European rivers would fail to contain them.But the mouths of these auxiliary waters Joam Garral and his people will pass as they journey down the Amazon.

To the beauties of this unrivaled river,which waters the finest country in the world,and keeps along its whole course at a few degrees to the south of the equator,there is to be added another quality,possessed by neither the Nile,the Mississippi,nor the Livingstone-or,in other words,the old Congo-Zaira-Lualaba and that is（although some ill-informed travelers have stated to the contrary）that the Amazon crosses a most healthy part of South America.Its basin is constantly swept by westerly winds.It is not a narrow valley surrounded by high mountains which border its banks,but a huge plain,measuring three hundred and fifty leagues from north to south,scarcely varied with a few knolls,whose whole extent the atmospheric currents can traverse unchecked.

Professor Agassiz very properly protested against the pretended unhealthiness of the climate of a country which is destined to become one of the most active of the world’s producers.According to him，“a soft and gentle breeze is constantly observable,and produces an evaporation,thanks to which the temperature is kept down,and the sun does not give out heat unchecked.The constancy of this refreshing breeze renders the climate of the river Amazon agreeable,and even delightful.”

Durand has likewise testified that if the temperature does not drop below 25 degrees Centigrade,it never rises above 33 degrees,and this gives for the year a mean temperature of from 28 degrees to 29 degrees,with a range of only 8 degrees.

After such statements we are safe in affirming that the basin of the Amazon has none of the burning heats of countries like Asia and Africa,whichare crossed by the same parallels.

The vast plain which serves for its valley is accessible over its whole extent to the generous breezes which come from off the Atlantic.

And the provinces to which the river has given its name have acknowledged right to call themselves the healthiest of a country which is one of the finest on the earth.

And how can we say that the hydrographical system of the Amazon is not known？

In the sixteenth century Orellana,the lieutenant of one of the brothers Pizarro,descended the Rio Negro,arrived on the main river in 1540，ventured without a guide across the unknown district,and,after eighteen months of a navigation of which is record is most marvelous,reached the mouth.

In 1636 and 1637 the Portuguese Pedro Texeira ascended the Amazon to Napo,with a fleet of forty-seven pirogues.

In 1743 La Condamine,after having measured an arc of the meridian at the equator,left his companions Bouguer and Godin des Odonais,embarked on the Chinchipe,descended it to its junction with the Maranon,reached the mouth at Napo on the 31st of July,just in time to observe an emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter-which allowed this“Humboldt of the eighteenth century”to accurately determine the latitued and longitude of the spot-visited the villages on both banks,and on the 6th of September arrived in front of the fort of Para.This immense journey had important resultsnot only was the course of the Amazon made out in scientific fashion,but it seemed almost certain that it communicated with the Orinoco.

Fifty-five years later Humboldt and Bonpland completed the valuable work of La Condamine,and drew up the map of the Maranon as far as Napo.

Since this period the Amazon itself and all its principal tributaries have been frequently visited.

In 1827 Lister-Maw,in 1834 and 1835 Smyth,in 1844 the French lieutenant in command of the“Boulonnaise，”the Brazilian Valdez in 1840，the French“Paul Marcoy”from 1848 to 1860，the whimsical painter Biard in 1859，Professor Agassiz in 1865 and 1866，in 1967 the Brazilian engineer Franz KellerLinzenger,and lastly,in 1879 Doctor Crevaux,have explored the courseof the river,ascended many of its tributaries,and ascertained the navigability of its principal affluents.

But what has won the greatest honor for the Brazilian government is that on the 31st of July，1857，after numerous frontier disputes between France and Brazil,about the Guiana boundary,the course of the Amazon was declared to be free and open to all flags；and,to make practice harmonize with theory,Brazil entered into negotiations with the neighboring powers for the exploration of every river-road in the basin of the Amazon.

Today lines of well-found steamboats,which correspond direct with Liverpool,are plying on the river from its mouth up to Manaos；others ascend to Iquitos；others by way of the Tapajoz,the Madeira,the Rio Negro,or the Purus,make their way into the center of Peru and Bolivia.

One can easily imagine the progress which commerce will one day make in this immense and wealthy area,which is without a rival in the world.

But to this medal of the future there is a reverse.No progress can be accomplished without detriment to the indigenous races.

In fact,on the Upper Amazon many Indian tribes have already disappeared,among others the Curicicurus and the Sorimaos.On the Putumayo,if a few Yuris are still met with,the Yahuas have abandoned the district to take refuge among some of the distant tributaries,and the Maoos have quitted its banks to wander in their diminished numbers among the forests of Japura.

The Tunantins is almost depopulated,and there are only a few families of wandering Indians at the mouth of the Jurua.The Teff？is almost deserted,and near the sources of the Japura there remained but the fragments of the great nation of the Uma.The Coari is forsaken.There are but few Muras Indians on the banks of the Purus.Of the ancient Manaos one can count but a wandering party or two.On the banks of the Rio Negro there are only a few half-breeds,Portuguese and natives,where a few years ago twenty-four different nations had their homes.

Such is the law of progress.The Indians will disappear.Before the Anglo-Saxon race Australians and Tasmanians have vanished.Before the conquerors of the Far West the North American Indians have been wiped out.One day perhaps the Arabs will be aonihilated by the colonization of theFrench.

But we must return to 1852.The means of communication,so numerous now,did not then exist,and the journey of Joam Garml would require not less than four months,owing to the conditions under which it was made.

Hence this observation of Benito,while the two friends were watching the river as it gently flowed at their feet：

“Manoel,my friend,if there is very little interval between our arrival at Belem and the moment of our separation,the time will appear to you to be very short.”

“Yes,Benito，”said Manoel，“and very long as well,for Minha cannot by my wife until the end of the voyage.”第六章　地面上的森林导读

乔恩·贾雷尔一家为这次旅游都十分高兴，乔恩为此也暂时放下了心中的忧虑，为旅行做着准备。

当时的航线上都是些私人船只，有叫“乌巴”的独木舟；有船身中部搭有树叶篷的“额伽里塔”；还有一种叫“让加达”的装有三角帆的木筏，上边搭有茅草屋；还有更大的能载重二十吨的帆船。

乔恩对这几种船都不满意，他想趁这次机会将大批物资运到帕拉去。于是他自己设计了一种原始的简易船，它能承载大量的人员，又能在航行中保证安全。乔恩每年都要砍伐几百棵大树，现在他决定把庄园沿岸半英里范围内的树木都砍倒，造一只木筏。全家人及仆人、货物全部装在木筏上，它要比任何船只都安全可靠。

大家知道了他的计划后都认为是好主意。乔恩叫来庄园的印第安人大管家，吩咐大木筏必须在一个月内完工，于是大管家与手下当天就开始了工作。

他们先将树上的树枝锯掉，清理干净。这里有一百二十尺高的棕榈树，还有建筑用的“穆里奇”树，高大的“蓬巴”树及“瓜提波”树等，还有铁树、“伊比里拉塔”树、“高萨尔皮纳”树和螺旋柱子形的“萨普卡西亚”树。

三个星期后，这些树全部被砍倒了，二三十年后就可以再长出一片树林来。乔恩这一段时间都在指挥砍伐树木和建造木筏。米娜和女仆丽娜知道她们将永远离开这里到另一个国家生活。柏里托参与了整个工程，从中学会了不少知识，这对他以后当庄园主很有用处。

马诺埃尔既在家帮助雅斯塔和米娜，又到工地帮助柏里托，不过他在家的时候多些。he Garral family were in high glee.The magnificent journey on theAmazon was to be undertaken under conditions as agreeable Tas possible.Not only were the fazender and his family to start on a voyage for several months,but,as we shall see,he was to be accompanied by a part of the staff of the farm.

In beholding every one happy around him,Joam forgot the anxieties which appeared to trouble his life.From the day his decision was taken he had been another man,and when he busied himself about the preparations for the expedition he regained his former activity.His people rejoiced exceedingly at seeing him again at work.His moral self reacted against his physical self,and Joam again became the active,energetic man of his earlier years,and moved about once more as though he had spent his life in the open air,under the invigorating influences of forests,fields,and running waters.

Moreover,the few weeks that were to precede his departure had been well employed.

At this period,as we have just remarked,the course of the Amazon was not yet furrowed by the numberless steam vessels,which companies were only then thinking of putting into the river.The service was worked by individuals on their own account alone,and often the boats were only employed in the business of the riverside establishments.

These boats were either“ubas，”canoes made from the trunk of a tree,hollowed out by fire,and finished with the ax,pointed and light in front,and heavy and broad in the stern,able to carry from one to a dozen paddlers,and of three or four tons burden：“egariteas，”constructed on a larger scale,of broader design,and leaving on each side a gangway for the rowers；or“jangada，”rafts of no particular shape,propelled by a triangular sail,and surmounted by a cabin of mud and straw,which served the Indian and his family for a floating home.

These three kinds of craft formed the lesser flotilla of the Amazon,andwere only suited for a moderate traffic of passengers or merchandise.

Larger vessels,however,existed,either“vigilingas，”ranging from eight up to ten tons,with three masts rigged with red sails,and which in calm weather were rowed by four long paddles not at all easy to work against the stream；or“cobertas，”of twenty tons burden,a kind of junk with a poop behind and a cabin down below,with two masts and,square sails of unequal size,and propelled,when the wind fell,by six long sweeps which Indians worked from a forecastle.

But neither of these vessels satisfied Joam Garral.From the moment that he had resolved to descend the Amazon he had thought of making the most of the voyage by carrying a huge convoy of goods into Para.From this point of view there was no necessity to descend the river in a hurry.And the determination to which he had come pleased every one,excepting,perhaps,Manoel,who would for very good reasons have preferred some rapid steamboat.

But though the means of transport devised by Joam were primitive in the extreme,he was going to take with him a numerous following and abandon himself to the stream under exceptional conditions of cornfort and security.

It would be,in truth,as if a part of the fazenda of Iquitos had been cut away from the bank and carried down the Amazon with all that composed the family of the fazcnder-masters and servants,in their dwellings,their cottages,and their huts.

The settlement of Iquitos included a part of those magnificent forests which,in the central districts of South America,are practically inexhaustible.

Joam Garral thoroughly understood the management of these woods,which were rich in the most precious and diverse species adapted for joinery,cabinet work,ship building,and carpentry,and from them he annually drew considerable profits.

The river was there in front of him,and could it not be as safely and economically used as a railway if one existed？So every year Joam Garral felled some hundreds of trees from his stock and formed immense rafts of floating wood,of joists,beams,and slightly squared trunks,which were taken to Para in charge of capable pilots who were thoroughly acquainted with thedepths of the river and the direction of its currents.

This year Joam Garral decided to do as he had done in preceding years.Only,when the raft was made up,he was going to leave to Benito all the detail of the trading part of the business.But there was no time to lose.The beginning of June was the best season to start,for the waters,increased by the floods of the upper basin,would gradually and gradually subside until the month of October.

The first steps had thus to be taken without delay,for the raft was to be of unusual proportions.It would be necessary to fell a half-mile square of the forest which was situated at the junction of the Nanay and the Amazon-that is to say,the whole river side of the fazenda,to form the enormous mass,for such were the jangadas,or river rafts,which attained the dimensions of a small island.

It was in this jangada,safer than any other vessel of the country,larger than a hundred egariteas or vigilingas coupled together,that Joam Garral proposed to embark with his family,his servants,and his merchandise.

“Excellent idea！”had cried Minha,clapping her hands,when she learned her father’s scheme.

“Yes，”said Yaquita，“and in that way we shall reach Belem without danger or fatigue.”

“And during the stoppages we can have some hunting in the forests which line the banks，”added Benito.

“Won’t it take rather long？”observed Manoel；“could we not hit upon some quicker way of descending the Amazon？”

It would take some time,obviously,but the interested observation of the young doctor received no attention from any one.

Joam Garral then called in an Indian who was the principal manager of the fazenda.

“In a month，”he said to him，“the jangada must be built and ready to launch.”

“We’ll set to work this very day,sir.”

It was a heavy task.There were about a hundred Indians and blacks,and during the first fortnight in May they did wonders.Some people unaccustomedto these great tree massacres would perhaps have groaned to see giants many hundred years old fall in a few hours beneath the axes of the woodmen；but there was such a quantity on the banks of the river,up stream and down stream,even to the most distant points of the horizon,that the felling of this half-mile of forest would scarcely leave an appreciable void.

The superintendent of the men,after receiving the instructions of Joam Garral,had first cleared the ground of the creepers,brushwood,weeds,and arborescent plants which obstructed it.Before taking to the saw and the ax they had armed themselves with a felling-sword,that indispensable tool of every one who desires to penetrate the Amazonian forests,a large blade slightly curved,wide and flat,and two or three feet long,and strongly handled,which the natives wield with consummate address.In a few hours,with the help of the fellingsword,they had cleared the ground,cut down the underwood,and opened large gaps into the densest portions of the wood.

In this way the work progressed.The ground was cleared in front of the woodmen.The old trunks were divested of their clothing of creepers,cacti,ferns,mosses,and bromelias.They were stripped naked to the bark,until such time as the bark itself was stripped from off them.

Then the whole of the workers,before whom fled an innumerable crowd of monkeys who were hardly their superiors in agility,slung themselves into the upper branches,sawing off the heavier boughs and cutting down the topmost limbs,which had to be cleared away on the spot.Very soon there remained only a doomed forest,with long bare stems,bereft of their crowns,through which the sun luxuriantly rayed on to the humid soil which perhaps its shots had never before caressed.

There was not a single tree which could not be used for some work of skill,either in carpentry or cabinet-work.There,shooting up like columns of ivory ringed with brown,were wax-palms one hundred and twenty feet high,and four feet thick at their base；white chestnuts,which yield the three-cornered nuts；“murichis，”unexcelled for building purposes；“barrigudos，”measuring a couple of yards at the swelling,which is found at a few feet above the earth,trees with shining russet bark dotted with gray tubercles,each pointed stem of which supports a horizontal parasol；and“bombax”of superb stature,with itsstraight and smooth white stem.Among these magnificent specimens of the Amazonian flora there fell many“quatibos”whose rosy canopies towered above the neighboring trees,whose fruits are like little cups with rows of chestnuts ranged within,and whose wood of clear violet is specially in demand for ship-building.And besides there was the ironwood；and more particularly the“ibiriratea”，nearly black in its skin,and so close grained that of it the Indians make their battle-axes；“jacarandas”，more precious than mahogany；“calpinas”，only now found in the depths of the old forests which have escaped the woodman’s ax；“sapucaias”，one hundred and fifty feet high,buttressed by natural arches,which,starting from three yards from their base,rejoin the tree some thirty feet up the stem,twining themselves round the trunk like the filatures of a twisted colunm,whose head expands in a bouquet of vegetable fireworks made up of the yellow,purple,and snowy white of the parasitic plants.

Three weeks after the work was begun not one was standing of all the trees which had covered the angle of the Amazon and the Nanay.The clearance was complete.Joam Garral had not even had to bestir himself in the demolition of a forest which it would take twenty or thirty years to replace.Not a stick of young or old wood was left to mark the boundary of a future clearing,not even an angle to mark the limit of the denudation.It was indeed a clean sweep；the trees were cut to the level of the earth,to wait the day when their roots would be got out,over which the coming spring would still spread its verdant cloak.

This square space,washed on its sides by the waters of the river and its tributary,was destined to be cleared,plowed,planted,and sown,and the following year fields of manioc,coffee-shrubs,sugar-canes,arrowroot,maize,and peanlats would occupy the ground so recently covered by the trees.

The last week of the month had not arrived when the trunks,classified according to their varieties and specific gravity,were symmetrically arranged on the bank of the Amazon,at the spot where the immense jangada was to be built-which,with the different habitations for the accommodation of the crew,would become a veritable floating village-to wait the time when the waters of the river,swollen by the floods,would raise it and carry it for hundreds of leagues to the Atlantic coast.

The whole time the work was going on Joam Garral had been engaged in superintending it.From the clearing to the bank of the fazenda he had formed a large mound on which the portions of the raft were disposed,and to this matter he had attended entirely himself.

Yaquita was occupied with Cybele with the preparations for the departure,though the old negress could not be made to understand why they wanted to go or what they hoped to see.

“But you will see things that you never saw before，”Yaquita kept saying to her.

“Will they be better than what I see now？”was Cybele’s invariable reply.

Minha and her favorite for their part took care of what more particularlyconcerned them.They were not preparing for a simple voyage；for them it was a permanent departure,and there were a thousand details to look after for settling in the other country in which the young mulatto was to live with the mistress to whom she was so devotedly attached.Minha was a trifle sorrowful,but the joyous Lina was quite unaffected at leaving Iquitos.Minha Valdez would be the same to her as Minha Garral,and to check her spirits she would have to be separated from her mistress,and that was never thought of.

Benito had actively assisted his father in the work,which was on the point of completion.He commenced his apprenticeship to the trade of a fazender,which would probably one day become his own,as he was about to do that of a merchant on their descent of the river.

As for Manoel,he divided his time between the house,where Yaquita and her daughter were as busy as possible,and the clearing,to which Benito fetched him rather oftener than he thought convenient,and on the whole the division was very unequal,as may well be imagined.第七章　沿着树藤行进导读

五月二十六日是星期天，柏里托和马诺埃尔邀请米娜一起去对面亚马逊河边的大森林游玩。丽娜跟随着女主人，他们四人由一名黑奴陪同在十一点时来到岸边，乘一条船到了河的右岸。

米娜以主人的身份欢迎马诺埃尔，而马诺埃尔深情地说，不管在庄园还是贝伦她都将是女主人。柏里托让他俩暂时忘掉未婚夫妇的身份，大家现在都是以陌生人的身份出现，见面要互相问好。

马诺埃尔便向米娜鞠了一躬并向她问好！而米娜严肃地问他是谁，这使得柏里托很不习惯，提议大家还是恢复关系。

这时米娜表示自己已经服从了哥哥的建议，现在她要哥哥答应她忘记自己是一名猎手，不许射杀可爱的小鸟，除非有雪豹、美洲豹才能开枪。

几个人向森林走去，在这片美丽的森林中，长着许多珍奇的植物。一路上看到蜂鸟、鹦鹉、棕色相间的乌鸫和长着金黄羽翼的莺儿等各种鸟类。当雀鹰在树梢上叫时，所有的鸟便都躲了起来。当一种叫“加维鹞”的巨鹰在上空出现时，雀鹰也仓皇而逃。

一小时后，他们走出了一英里，二十米高的树上成群结队的猴子在嬉戏。大树下面生长着凤梨、兰花、仙人掌等植物，还有无数奇妙的小昆虫生活在这里。夜间有发光的昆虫闪着美丽的亮光，可以将整个森林照亮。

森林中有很多猎物，他们见到了有一米半高的鸵鸟，它的身边还有火鸡。柏里托为承诺不放枪而感到遗憾。

他们还看到了像小象那么大的被称做“昂塔”的貘，这是一种肉质鲜美的动物。柏里托是多么想把它猎到手，但为了自己的承诺还是忍住了。米娜这次出来的目的就是来欣赏这片中美洲的大森林，并以此向它告别的。

一会儿，丽娜看到一条缠绕在巨型含羞草上的西波藤，便建议大家沿着它走到尽头。米娜和柏里托都表示同意，于是他们顺着藤前进了。

西波藤在树林中蜿蜒向前，慢慢地西波藤不见了。等了一会儿，丽娜又发现了藤，可米娜认为这是另一种藤。柏里托站在丽娜一边，马诺埃尔站在米娜这边。于是柏里托和同行的黑人攀上西波藤盘绕的树去找它出去的方向，他俩在树丛及花茎中费了好大劲才找到西波藤，继续向前走，跟踪了一个多小时，还是没有到西波藤的尽头。

他们来到了一片开阔地，西波藤穿过开阔地，又进入了森林。一刻钟后，他们前面出现了一条深沟，网状枝条的藤成了深沟上的桥，西波藤分为两支，组成了藤桥。柏里托跨上了藤桥，马诺埃尔本想阻拦米娜，但被米娜拉着走了过去。

他们跟着西波藤沿着河走了十分钟，这时发现藤条在剧烈晃动，以为有了野兽。柏里托举起枪向前走了十步，突然大喊一声向前奔去。另外几人也马上跟去，发现一个人吊在藤上正在做临死前的挣扎。他们把那人救了下来，这是一个穿着破烂的三十几岁的白人，他说自己是理发师，已四十个小时没有吃饭了，于是就做了傻事。他们问他愿意跟着回庄园吗？他表示以后就是他们的仆人了。

他们告诉他，是因为丽娜出的“顺藤前进”的主意大家才碰到他，他对丽娜表示了感谢。回到庄园，这个叫做费拉戈索的白人留在了那里。t was a Sunday,the 26th of May,and the young people had made uptheir minds to take a holiday.The weather was splendid,the heat Ibeing tempered by the refreshing breezes which blew from off the Cordilleras,and everything invited them out for an excursion into the country.

Benito and Manoel had offered to accompany Minha through the thick woods which bordered the right bank of the Amazon opposite the fazenda.

It was,in a manner,a farewell visit to the charming environs of Iquitos.The young men went equipped for the chase,but as sportsmen who had no intention of going far from their companions in pursuit of any game.Manoelcould be trusted for that,and the girls-for Lina could not leave her mistress-went prepared for a walk,an excursion of two or three leagues being not too long to frighten them.

Neither Joam Garral nor Yaquita had time to go with them.For one reason the plan of the jangada was not yet complete,and it was necessary that its construction should not be interrupted for a day,and another was that Yaquita and Cybele,well seconded as they were by the domestics of the fazenda,had no an hour to lose.

Minha had accepted the offer with much pleasure,and so,after breakfast on the day we speak of,at about eleven o’clock,the two young men and the two girls met on the bank at the angle where the two streams joined.One of the blacks went with them.They all embarked in one of the ubas used in the service of the farm,and after having passed between the islands of Iquitos and Parianta,they reached the right bank of the Amazon.

They landed at a clump of superb tree-ferns,which were crowned,at a height of some thirty feet with a sort of halo made of the dainty branches of green velvet and the delicate lacework of the drooping fronds.

“Well,Manoel，”said Mina，“it is for me to do the honors of the forest；you are only a stranger in these regions of the Upper Amazon.We are at home here,and you must allow me to do my duty,as mistress of the house.”

“Dearest Minha，”replied the young man，“you will be none the less mistress of your house in our town of Belem than at the fazenda of Iquitos,and there as here—”

“Now,then，”interrupted Benito，“you did not come here to exchange loving speeches,I imagine.Just forget for a few hours that you are engaged.”

“Not for an hour-not for an instant！”said Manoel.

“Perhaps you will if Minha orders you？”

“Minha will not order me.”

“Who knows？”said Lina,laughing.

“Lina is right，”answered Minha,who held out her hand to Manoel.“Try to forget！Forget！My brother requires it.All is broken off！As long as this walk lasts we are not engaged：I am no more than the sister of Benito！You are only my friend！”

“To be sure，”said Benito.

“Bravo！bravo！there are only strangers here，”said the young mulatto,clapping her hands.

“Strangers who see each other for the first time，”added the girl，“who meet,bow to—”

“Mademoiselle！”said Manoel,turning to Minha.

“To whom have I the honor to speak,sir？”said she in the most serious manner possible.

“To Manoel Valdez,who will be glad if your brother will introduce me.”

“Oh,away with your nonsense！”cried Bcnito.“Stupid idea that I had！Be engaged,my friends-be it as much as you like！Be it always！”

“Always！”said Minha,from whom the word escaped so naturally that Lina’s peals of laughter redoubled.

A grateful glance from Manoel repaid Minha for the imprudence of her tongue.

“Come along，”said Benito,so as to get his sister out of her embarrassment，“if we walk on we shall not talk so much.”

“One moment,brother.”she said.“You have seen how ready I am to obey you.You wished to oblige Manoel and me to forget each other,so as not to spoil your walk.Very well,and now I am going to ask a sacrifice from you so that you shall not spoil mine.Whether it pleases you or not,Bonito,you must promise me to forget—”

“Forget what？”

“That you are a sportsman！”

“What！you forbid me to—”

“I forbid you to fire at any of these charming birds-any of the parrots,caciques,or curucus which are flying about so happily among the trees！And the same interdiction with regard to the smaller game with which we shall have to do today.If any one,jaguar,or such thing comes too near,well—”

“But—”said Bcnito.

“If not,I will take Manoel’s arm,and we shall save or lose ourselves,and you will be obliged to run after us.”

“Would you not like me to refuse,eh？”asked Benito,looking at Manoel.“I think I should！”replied the young man.

“Well then-no！”said Benito；“I do not refuse；I will obey and annoy you.Come on！”

And so the four,followed by the black,struck under the splendid trees,whose thick foliage prevented the sun’s rays from every reaching the soil.

There is nothing more magnificent than this part of the right bank of the Amazon.There,in such picturesque confusion,so many different trees shoot up that it is possible to count more than a hundred different species in a square mile.A forester could easily see that no woodman had been there with his hatchet or ax,for the effects of a clearing are visible for many centuries afterward.If the new trees are even a hundred years old,the general aspect still differs from what it was originally,for the lianas and other parasitic plants alter,and signs remain which no native can misunderstand.

The happy group moved then into the tall herbage,across the thickets and under the bushes,chatting and laughing.In front,when the brambles were too thick,the negro,felling-sword in hand,cleared the way,and put thousands of birds to flight.

Minha was right to intercede for the little winged world which flew about in the higher foliage,for the finest representations of tropical ornithology were there to be seen-green parrots and clamorous parakeets,which seemed to be the natural fruit of these gigantic trees；humming-birds in all their varieties,light-blue and ruby red；“tisauras”with long scissors-like tails,looking like detached flowers which the wind blew from branch to branch；blackbirds,with orange plumage bound with brown；golden-edged beccaficos；and“sabias”，black as crows；all united in a deafening concert of shrieks and whistles.The long beak of the toucan stood out against the golden clusters of the“quiriris”，and the treepeckers or woodpeckers of Brazil wagged their little heads,speckled all over with their purple spots,It was truly a scene of enchantment.

But all were silent and went into hiding when above the tops of the trees there grated like a rusty weathercock the“alma de gato”or“soul of the cat，”a kind of light fawn-colored sparrow-hawk.If he proudly hooted,displaying in the air the long white plumes of his tail,he in his turn meekly took to flight when in the loftier heights there appeared the“gaviao，”the large white-headedeagle,the terror of the whole winged population of these woods.

Minha made Manoel admire the natural wonders which could not be found in their simplicity in the more civilized provinces of the east.He listened to her more with his eyes than his ears,for the cries and the songs of these thousands of birds were every now and then so penetrating that he was not able to hear what she said.The noisy laughter of Lina was alone sufficiently shrill to ring out with its joyous note above every kind of clucking,chirping,hooting,whistling,and cooing.

At the end of an hour they had scarcely gone a mile.As they left the river the trees assumed another appect,and the animal life was no longer met with near the ground,but at from sixty to eighty feet above,where troops of monkeys chased each other along the higher branches.Here and there a few cones of the solar rays shot down into the underwood.In fact,in these tropical forests light does not seem to be necessary for their existence.The air is enough for the vegetable growth,whether it be large or small,tree or plant,and all the heat required for the development of their sap is derived not from the surrounding atmosphere,but from the bosom of the soil itself,where it is stored up as in an enormous stove.

And on the bromelias,grass plantains,orchids,cacti,and in short all the parasites which formed a little forest beneath the large one,many marvelous insects were they tempted to pluck as though they had been genuine blossoms-nestors with blue wings like shimmering watered silk,leilu butterflies reflexed with gold and striped with fringes of green,agrippina moths,ten inches long,with leaves for wings,maribunda bees,like living emeralds set in sockets of gold,and legions of lampyrons or pyrophorus coleopters,valagumas with breastplates of bronze,and green elytr？with yellow light pouring from their eyes,who,when the night comes,illuminate the forest with their many-colored scintillations.

“What wonders！”repeated the enthusiastic girl.

“You are at home,Minha,or at least you say so，”said Benito，“and that is the way you talk of your riches！”

“Sneer away,little brother！”replied Minha；“such beautiful things are only lent to us；is it not so,Manoel？They come from the hand of the Almighty andbelong to the world！”

“Let Benito laugh on；Minha.”said Manoel.“He hides it very well,but he is a poet himself when his time comes,and he admires as much as we do all these beauties of nature.Only when his gun is on his arm,good-by to poetry！”

“Then be a poet now，”replied the girl.

“I am a poet.”said Benito.“O！Nature-enchanting,etc.”

We may confess,however,that in forbidding him to use his gun Minha had imposed on him a genuine privation.There was no lack of game in the woods,and several magnificent opportunities he had declined with regret.

In some of the less wooded parts,in places where the breaks were tolerably spacious,they saw several pairs of ostriches,of the species known as“naudus”，from for to five feet high,accompanied by their inseparable“seriemas”，a sort of turkey,infinitely better from an edible point of view than the huge birds they escort.

“See what that wretched promise costs me.”sighed Benito,as,at a gesture from his sister,he replaced under his arm the gun which had instinctively gone up to his shoulder.

“We ought to respect the seriemas，”said Manoel，“for they are great destroyers of the snakes.”

“Just as we ought to respect the snakes，”replied Benito，“because they eat the noxious insects,and just as we ought the insects because they live on smaller insects more offensive still.At that rate we ought to respect everything.”

But the instinct of the young sportsman was about to be put to a still more rigorous trial.The woods became of a sudden full of game.Swift stags and graceful roebucks scampered off beneath the bushes,and a well-aimed bullet would assuredly have stopped them.Here and there turkeys showed themselves with their milk and coffee-colored plumage；and peccaries,a sort of wild pig highly appreciated by lovers of venison,and agouties,which are the hares and rabbits of Central America；and tatous belonging to the order of edentates,with their scaly shells of patterns of mosaic.

And truly Benito showed more than virtue,and even genuine heroism,when he came across some tapirs,called“antas”in Brazil,diminutives of the elephant,already nearly undiscoverable on the banks of the Upper Amazon andits tributaries,pachyderms so dear to the hunters for their rarity,so appreciated by the gourmands for their meat,superior far to beef,and above all for the protuberance on the nape of the neck,which is a morsel fit for a king.

His gun almost burned his fingers,but faithful to his promise he kept it quiet.

But yet-and he cautioned his sister about this-the gun would go off in spite of him,and probably register a master-stroke in sporting annals,if within range there should come a“tamandoa assa，”a kind of large and very curious ant-eater.

Happily the big ant-eater did not show himself,neither did any panthers,leopards,jaguars,guepars,or cougars,called indifferently ounces in South America,and to whom it is not advisable to get too near.

“After all，”said Benito,who stopped for an instant，“to walk is very well,but to walk without an object—”

“Without an object！”replied his sister；“but our object is to see,to admire,to visit for the last time these forests of Central America,which we shall not find again in Para,and to bid them a fast farewell.”

“Ah！an idea！”

It was Lina who spoke.

“An idea of Lina’s can be no other than a silly one.”said Benito,shaking his head.

“It is unkind,brother，”said Minha，“to make fun of Lina when she has been thinking how to give our walk the object which you have just regretted it lacks.”

“Besides,Mr.Benito,I am sure my idea will please you.”replied the mulatto.

“Well,what is it？”asked Minha.

“You see that liana？”

And Lina pointed to a liana of the“cipos”kind,twisted round a gigantic sensitive mimosa,whose leaves,light as feathers,shut up at the least disturbance.

“Well？”said Benito.

“I proposed，”replied Minha，“that we try to follow that liana to its veryend.”

“It is an idea,and it is an object！”observed Benito，“To follow this liana,no matter what may be the obstacles,thickets,underwood,rocks,brooks,torrents,to let nothing stop us,not even—”

“Certainly,you are right,brother！”said Minha；“Lina is a trifle absurd.”

“Come on,then！”replied her brother；“you say that Lina is absurd so as to say that Benito is absurd to approve of it！”

“Well,both of you are absurd,if that will amuse you，”returned Minha.“Let us follow the liana！”

“You are not afraid？”said Manoel.

“Still objections！”shouted Benito.

“Ah,Manoel！you would not speak like that if you were already on your way and Minha was waiting for you at the end.”

“1 am silent，”replied Manoel；“I have no more to say.I obey.Let

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