第35章

The woods around Baiao were of second growth, the ground having been formerly cultivated.A great number of coffee and cotton trees grew amongst the thickets.A fine woodland pathway extends for miles over the high, undulating bank, leading from one house to another along the edge of the cliff.I went into several of them, and talked to their inmates.They were all poor people.The men were out fishing, some far away, a distance of many days journey; the women plant mandioca, make the farinha, spin and weave cotton, manufacture soap of burnt cacao shells and andiroba oil, and follow various other domestic employments.I asked why they allowed their plantations to run to waste.They said that it was useless trying to plant anything hereabout; the Sauba ant devoured the young coffee trees, and everyone who attempted to contend against this universal ravager was sure to be defeated.

The country, for many miles along the banks of the river, seemed to be well peopled.The inhabitants were nearly all of the tawny-white Mameluco class.I saw a good many mulattos, but very few negroes and Indians, and none that could be called pure whites.

When Senor Seixas arrived, he acted very kindly.He provided us at once with two men, killed an ox in our honour, and treated us altogether with great consideration.We were not, however, introduced to his family.I caught a glimpse once of his wife, a pretty little Mameluco woman, as she was tripping with a young girl, whom I supposed to be her daughter, across the backyard.

Both wore long dressing-gowns made of bright-coloured calico print, and had long wooden tobacco-pipes in their mouths.The room in which we slept and worked had formerly served as a storeroom for cacao, and at night I was kept awake for hours by rats and cockroaches, which swarm in all such places.The latter were running about all over the walls; now and then one would come suddenly with a whirr full at my face, and get under my shirt if I attempted to jerk it off.As to the rats, they were chasing one another by the dozens all night long over the floor, up and down the edges of the doors, and along the rafters of the open roof.

September 7th.--We started from Baiao at an early hour.One of our new men was a good-humoured, willing young mulatto named Jose; the other was a sulky Indian called Manoel, who seemed to have been pressed into our service against his will.Senor Seixas, on parting, sent a quantity of fresh provisions on board.

A few miles above Baiao the channel became very shallow; we ran aground several times, and the men had to disembark and shove the vessel off.Alexandro shot several fine fish here, with bow and arrow.It was the first time I had seen fish captured in this way.The arrow is a reed, with a steel barbed point, which is fixed in a hole at the end, and secured by fine twine made from the fibres of pineapple leaves.It is only in the clearest water that fish can be thus shot--and the only skill required is to make, in taking aim, the proper allowance for refraction.

The next day before sunrise a fine breeze sprang up, and the men awoke and set the sails.We glided all day through channels between islands with long, white, sandy beaches, over which, now and then, aquatic and wading birds were seen running.The forest was low, and had a harsh, dry aspect.Several palm trees grew here which we had not before seen.On low bushes, near the water, pretty, red-headed tanagers (Tanagra gularis) were numerous, flitting about and chirping like sparrows.About half-past four p.m., we brought to at the mouth of a creek or channel, where there was a great extent of sandy beach.The sand had been blown by the wind into ridges and undulations, and over the more moist parts, large flocks of sandpipers were running about.Alexandro and I had a long ramble over the rolling plain, which came as an agreeable change after the monotonous forest scenery amid which we had been so long travelling.He pointed out to me the tracks of a huge jaguar on the sand.We found here, also, our first turtle's nest, and obtained 120 eggs from it, which were laid at a depth of nearly two feet from the surface-- the mother first excavating a hole and afterwards, covering it up with sand.The place is discoverable only by following the tracks of the turtle from the water.I saw here an alligator for the first time, which reared its head and shoulders above the water just after I had taken a bath near the spot.The night was calm and cloudless, and we employed the hours before bedtime in angling by moonlight.

On the 10th, we reached a small settlement called Patos, consisting of about a dozen houses, and built on a high, rocky bank, on the eastern shore.The rock is the same nodular conglomerate which is found at so many places, from the seacoast to a distance of 600 miles up the Amazons.Mr.Leavens made a last attempt here to engage men to accompany us to the Araguaya, but it was in vain; not a soul could be induced by any amount of wages to go on such an expedition.The reports as to the existence of cedar were very vague.All said that the tree was plentiful somewhere, but no one could fix on the precise locality.I believe that the cedar grows, like all other forest trees, in a scattered way, and not in masses anywhere.The fact of its being the principal tree observed floating down with the current of the Amazons is to be explained by its wood being much lighter than that of the majority of trees.When the banks are washed away by currents, trees of all species fall into the river; but the heavier ones, which are the most numerous, sink, and the lighter, such as the cedar, alone float down to the sea.