WHILE THE master’s house was being constructed, Joam Garral was also busied in the arrangement of the out-buildings, comprising the kitchen, and offices in which provisions of all kinds were intended to be stored.
In the first place, there was an important stock of the roots of that little tree, some six or ten feet in height, which yields the manioc, and which form the principal food of the inhabitants of these inter-tropical countries. The root, very much like a long black radish, grows in clumps1 like potatoes. If it is not poisonous in Africa, it is certain that in South America it contains a more noxious2 juice, which it is necessary to previously3 get rid of by pressure. When this result is obtained, the root is reduced to flour, and is then used in many ways, even in the form of tapioca, according to the fancy of the natives.
On board the jangada there was a huge pile of this useful product destined4 for general consumption.
As for preserved meats, not forgetting a whole flock of sheep, kept in a special stable built in the front, they consisted principally of a quantity of the “presunto” hams of the district, which are of first-class quality; but the guns of the young fellows and of some of the Indians were reckoned on for additional supplies, excellent hunters as they were, to whom there was likely to be no lack of game on the islands and in the forests bordering on the stream. The river was expected to furnish its daily quota5; prawns6, which ought rather to be called crawfish; “tambagus,” the finest fish in the district, of a flavor superior to that of salmon7, to which it is often compared; “pirarucus” with red scales, as large as sturgeons, which when salted are used in great quantities throughout Brazil; “candirus,” awkward to capture, but good to eat; “piranhas,” or devil-fish, striped with red bands, and thirty inches long; turtles large and small, which are counted by millions, and form so large a part of the food of the natives; some of every one of these things it was hoped would figure in turn on the tables of the master and his men.
And so each day shooting and fishing were to be regularly indulged in.
For beverages8 they had a good store of the best that country produced; “caysuma” or “machachera,” from the Upper and Lower Amazon, an agreeable liquor of slightly acidulated taste, which is distilled9 from the boiled root of the sweet manioc; “beiju,” from Brazil, a sort of national brandy, the “chica” of Peru; the mazato” of the Ucayali, extracted from the boiled fruits of the banana-tree, pressed and fermented10; “guarana,” a kind of paste made from the double almond of the “paulliniasorbilis,” a genuine tablet of chocolate so far as its color goes, which is reduced to a fine powder, and with the addition of water yields an excellent drink.
And this was not all. There is in these countries a species of dark violet wine, which is got from the juice of the palm, and the aromatic11 flavor of this “assais” is greatly appreciated by the Brazilans, and of it there were on board a respectable number of frasques (each holding a little more than half a gallon), which would probably be emptied before they arrived at Para.
The special cellar of the jangada did honor to Benito, who had been appointed its commander-in-chief. Several hundred bottles of sherry, port, and letubal recalled names dear to the earlier conquerors12 of South America. In addition, the young butler had stored away certain demijohns, holding half a dozen gallons each, of excellent “tafia,” a sugared brandy a trifle more pronounced in taste than the national beiju.
As far as tobacco was concerned, there was none of that coarse kind which usually contents the natives of the Amazonian basin. It all came direct from Villa14 Bella da Imperatriz — or, in other words, fro the district in which is grown the best tobacco in Central America.
The principal habitation, with its annexes15 — kitchen, offices, and cellars — was placed in the rear — or, let us say, stern of the craft — and formed a part reserved for the Garral family and their personal servants.
In the center the huts for the Indians and the blacks had been erected16. The staff were thus placed under the same conditions as at the fazenda of Iquitos, and would always be able to work under the direction of the pilot.
To house the crew a good many huts were required, and these gave to the jangada the appearance of a small village got adrift, and, to tell the truth, it was a better built and better peopled village than many of those on the Upper Amazon.
For the Indians Joam Garral had designed regular cabins — huts without walls, with only light poles supporting the roof of foliage17. The air circulated freely throughout these open constructions and swung the hammock suspended in the interior, and the natives, among whom were three or four complete families, with women and children, were lodged18 as if they were on shore.
The blacks here found their customary sheds. They differed from the cabins by being closed in on their four faces, of which only one gave access to the interior. The Indians, accustomed to live in the open air, free and untrammeled, were not able to accustom19 themselves to the imprisonment20 of the ajoupas, which agreed better with the life of the blacks.
In the bow regular warehouses21 had arisen, containing the goods which Joam Garral was carrying to Belem at the same time as the products of his forests.
There, in vast storerooms, under the direction of Benito, the rich cargo22 had been placed with as much order as if it had been carefully stowed away in a ship’s hold.
In the first place, seven thousand arrobas of caoutchouc, each of about thirty pounds, composed the most precious part of the cargo, for every pound of it was worth from three to four francs. The jangada also took fifty hundredweight of sarsaparilla, a smilax which forms an important branch of foreign trade throughout the Amazon districts, and is getting rarer and rarer along the banks of the river, so that the natives are very careful to spare the stems when they gather them. Tonquin bans, known in Brazil under the name of “cumarus,” and used in the manufacture of certain essential oils; sassafras, from which is extracted a precious balsam for wounds; bales of dyeing plants, cases of several gums, and a quantity of precious woods, completed a well-adapted cargo for lucrative23 and easy sale in the provinces of Para.
Some may feel astonished that the number of Indians and negroes embarked24 were only sufficient to work the raft, and that a larger number were not taken in case of an attack by the riverside Indians.
Such would have been useless. The natives of Central America are not to be feared in the least, and the times are quite changed since it was necessary to provide against their aggressions. The Indians along the river belong to peaceable tribes, and the fiercest of them have retired25 before the advancing civilization, and drawn26 further and further away from the river and its tributaries27. Negro deserters, escaped from the penal28 colonies of Brazil, England, Holland, or France, are alone to be feared. But there are only a small number of these fugitives29, they only move in isolated30 groups across the savannahs or the woods, and the jangada was, in a measure, secured from any attack on the parts of the backwoodsmen.
On the other hand, there were a number of settlements on the river — towns, villages, and missions. The immense stream no longer traverses a desert, but a basin which is being colonized31 day by day. Danger was not taken into consideration. There were no precautions against attacks.
To conclude our description of the jangada, we have only to speak of one or two erections of different kinds which gave it a very picturesque32 aspect.
In the bow was the cabin of the pilot — we say in the bow, and not at the stern, where the helmsman is generally found. In navigating33 under such circumstances a rudder is of no use. Long oars13 have no effect on a raft of such dimensions, even when worked with a hundred sturdy arms. It was from the sides, by means of long boathooks or props34 thrust against the bed of the stream, that the jangada was kept in the current, and had its direction altered when going astray. By this means they could range alongside either bank, if they wished for any reason to come to a halt. Three or four ubas, and two pirogues, with the necessary rigging, were carried on board, and afforded easy communications with the banks. The pilot had to look after the channels of the river, the deviations35 of the current, the eddies36 which it was necessary to avoid, the creeks37 or bays which afforded favorable anchorage, and to do this he had to be in the bow.
If the pilot was the material director of this immense machine — for can we not justly call it so?— another personage was its spiritual director; this was Padre Passanha, who had charge of the mission at Iquitos.
A religious family, like that of Joam Garral’s, had availed themselves enthusiastically of this occasion of taking him with them.
Padre Passanha, then aged38 seventy, was a man of great worth, full of evangelical fervor39, charitable and good, and in countries where the representatives of religion are not always examples of the virtues40, he stood out as the accomplished41 type of those great missionaries42 who have done so much for civilization in the interior of the most savage43 regions of the world.
For fifty years Padre Passanha had lived at Iquitos, in the mission of which he was the chief. He was loved by all, and worthily44 so. The Garral family held him in great esteem45; it was he who had married the daughter of Farmer Magalha?s to the clerk who had been received at the fazenda. He had known the children from birth; he had baptized them, educated them, and hoped to give each of them the nuptial46 blessing47.
The age of the padre did not allow of his exercising his important ministry48 any longer. The horn of retreat for him had sounded; he was about to be replaced at Iquitos by a younger missionary49, and he was preparing to return to Para, to end his days in one of those convents which are reserved for the old servants of God.
What better occasion could offer than that of descending50 the river with the family which was as his own? They had proposed it to him, and he had accepted, and when arrived at Belem he was to marry the young couple, Minha and Manoel.
But if Padre Passanha during the course of the voyage was to take his meals with the family, Joam Garral desired to build for him a dwelling51 apart, and heaven knows what care Yaquita and her daughter took to make him comfortable! Assuredly the good old priest had never been so lodged in his modest parsonage!
The parsonage was not enough for Padre Passanha; he ought to have a chapel52.
The chapel then was built in the center of the jangada, and a little bell surmounted53 it.
It was small enough, undoubtedly54, and it could not hold the whole of the crew, but it was richly decorated, and if Joam Garral found his own house on the raft, Padre Passanha had no cause to regret the poverty-stricken church of Iquitos.
Such was the wonderful structure which was going down the Amazon. It was then on the bank waiting till the flood came to carry it away. From the observation and calculation of the rising it would seem as though there was not much longer to wait.
All was ready to date, the 5th of June.
The pilot arrived the evening before. He was a man about fifty, well up in his profession, but rather fond of drink. Such as he was, Joam Garral in large matters at different times had employed him to take his rafts to belem, and he had never had cause to repent55 it.
It is as well to add that Araujo — that was his name — never saw better than when he had imbibed56 a few glasses of tafia; and he never did any work at all without a certain demijohn of that liquor, to which he paid frequent court.
The rise of the flood had clearly manifested itself for several days. From minute to minute the level of the river rose, and during the twenty-four hours which preceded the maximum the waters covered the bank on which the raft rested, but did not lift the raft.
As soon as the movement was assured, and there could be no error as to the height to which the flood would rise, all those interested in the undertaking57 were seized with no little excitement. For if through some inexplicable58 cause the waters of the Amazon did not rise sufficiently59 to flood the jangada, it would all have to be built over again. But as the fall of the river would be very rapid it would take long months before similar conditions recurred60.
On the 5th of June, toward the evening, the future passengers of the jangada were collected on a plateau which was about a hundred feet above the bank, and waited for the hour with an anxiety quite intelligible61.
There were Yaquita, her daughter, Manoel Valdez, Padre Passanha, Benito, Lina, Fragoso, Cybele, and some of the servants, Indian or negro, of the fazenda.
Fragoso could not keep himself still; he went and he came, he ran down the bank and ran up the plateau, he noted62 the points of the river gauge63, and shouted “Hurrah!” as the water crept up.
“It will swim, it will swim!” he shouted. “the raft which is to take us to Belem! It will float if all the cataracts64 of the sky have to open to flood the Amazon!”
Joam Garral was on the raft with the pilot and some of the crew. It was for him to take all the necessary measures at the critical moment. The jangada was moored65 to the bank with solid cables, so that it could not be carried away by the current when it floated off.
Quite a tribe from one hundred and fifty to two hundred Indians, without counting the population of the village, had come to assist at the interesting spectacle.
They were all keenly on the watch, and silence reigned66 over the impressionable crowd.
Toward five o’clock in the evening the water had reached a level higher than that of the night before — by more than a foot — and the bank had already entirely67 disappeared beneath the liquid covering.
A certain groaning68 arose among the planks69 of the enormous structure, but there was still wanting a few inches before it was quite lifted and detached from the ground.
For an hour the groanings increased. The joists grated on all sides. A struggle was going on in which little by little the trunks were being dragged from their sandy bed.
Toward half-past six cries of joy arose. The jangada floated at last, and the current took it toward the middle of the river, but, in obedience70 to the cables, it quietly took up its position near the bank at the moment that Padre Passanha gave it his blessing, as if it were a vessel71 launched into the sea whose destinies are in the hands of the Most High!
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1
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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noxious
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| adj.有害的，有毒的；使道德败坏的，讨厌的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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quota
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| n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额 | |
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prawns
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| n.对虾，明虾( prawn的名词复数 ) | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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8
beverages
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| n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 ) | |
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9
distilled
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| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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fermented
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| v.（使）发酵( ferment的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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annexes
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| 并吞( annex的名词复数 )； 兼并； 强占； 并吞（国家、地区等）； 附加物，附属建筑( annexe的名词复数 ) | |
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16
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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18
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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accustom
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| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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tributaries
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| n. 支流 | |
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penal
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| adj.刑罚的；刑法上的 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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colonized
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| 开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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navigating
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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props
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| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
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deviations
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| 背离，偏离( deviation的名词复数 )； 离经叛道的行为 | |
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eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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worthily
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| 重要地，可敬地，正当地 | |
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45
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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nuptial
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| adj.婚姻的，婚礼的 | |
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47
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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48
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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49
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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50
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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51
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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52
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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53
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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54
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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55
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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56
imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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57
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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58
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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59
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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cataracts
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| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
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moored
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| adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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66
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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67
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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68
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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69
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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