The tributary of the Amazon, down which we were proceeding, was in many
places more than half a mile wide: what must be the width of the mighty
river itself! This comparatively small stream was often tossed into
waves, and we were thankful that we had the prospect of embarking in a
larger vessel, with more experienced boatmen, for our further voyage.
On either side of the river were clay banks, above which the lofty trees
formed impenetrable walls; while here and there islands appeared, the
soil of some raised but little above the river, while in others we could
see evidences of the stream having separated them at no great distance
of time from the mainland. We continued our custom of landing at
night--indeed, whenever we had to put to shore--at one of these islands.
They all supplied us with wood to light our fires, and poles for our
huts: some were large enough to furnish game.
Thus several days passed away. We were, by our calculations,
approaching the spot at which our father had led us to expect that we
should find him. It may be supposed how eagerly we all looked out for
the expected marks. At length the curiously-coloured bluff hill he had
mentioned appeared in sight.
"There it is! there it is!" exclaimed Ellen. "I am sure it must be the
spot papa speaks of."
We surveyed it with eager eyes, and agreed that there could be no
mistake about the matter. With redoubled energy we paddled on, the
breeze, though light, being in our favour. And now in a short time we
came in sight of the expected group of bamboos. We quickly rounded it;
and there, before us, appeared the hill. We looked out for the huts on
its summit, but none were visible.
"Oh! perhaps papa thought it better to build them lower down, under the
shade of that group of palms," said Ellen; and we agreed that she was
probably right.
A small stream ran at the bottom of the hill, connected, probably, with
one of the larger rivers we had passed. We paddled up it a short
distance, hoping to find a convenient place for landing. Our hearts
misgave us on finding no one come down to welcome us on shore.
"They probably do not observe us coming," observed Ellen. "Mamma and
Fanny are in the house, and papa and the servants are out shooting."
I saw by the cheerful way she spoke she felt none of the apprehensions
which John and I were experiencing. We soon found a clear spot, where
the waters in the rainy season had carried away the trees and shrubs.
Securing our canoe, we eagerly stepped on shore. The bank was somewhat
steep; but we managed to climb up it, and, cutting our way through the
intervening jungle, reached the foot of the hill. Even now I began to
doubt whether, after all, this could be the spot our father spoke of.
Not the slightest sound was heard, and there was no appearance of human
habitations being near. True, as soon as we had got into the more open
ground, went scampering along in high glee at finding himself on shore.
John led the way, anxiously looking about on very side. We soon reached
the top of the hill, gazing eagerly down towards the group of palm-trees
Ellen had espied. No huts were to be seen.
"They cannot have been here!" exclaimed Ellen.
Just then John gave a start, and immediately hurried forward. We all
followed. Before us we saw several posts standing upright, but they
were blackened and charred, while several others lay scattered about.
The grass around was burned, and the ground covered with ashes. It was
too evident that a hut had stood there, which had been destroyed by
fire; but whether it had been inhabited by our family or not, we in vain
endeavoured to discover. No traces of them could we find. We looked at
each other with anxious eyes. Ellen burst into tears, fully believing
that something dreadful had happened. We wished to reassure her, but
our own fears made this a hard matter. John stood silent for some time.
Then again he walked over the spot, and examined narrowly the ground,
looking among the neighbouring trees.
"Perhaps this was not their house," suggested Arthur; "or if it was,
they may have escaped. Surely we should not give way to despair."
"I think the master is too cautious a man to have been taken by
surprise," observed Domingos. "He is probably not far off, and we shall
see him soon."
Maria did her best to comfort her young mistress.
"Do not cry, Dona Ellen; do not cry. We shall soon see them all," she
said, putting her arms round her as she used to do when she was a child,
and trying to comfort her.
Wishing to ascertain John's opinion, I went towards him.
"We must proceed further on," he said. "I am surprised that our father
has not left any sign by which we might learn where he has gone."
"Perhaps he had to retreat in too great a hurry for that, yet he might
have escaped in safety," observed Arthur.
"Do you think they were attacked by natives, and driven away?" I asked
of John.
"About that I am doubtful," he answered, in a low voice, so that Ellen
should not hear. "Yet had the hut simply been burned by accident, they
would have rebuilt it. Our friend Naro gave the Indians of this part of
the river a bad name. He called them _Majeronas_; and said that they
are cannibals, and attack all strangers. I did not believe the account
he gave of them; and had I done so, I would not have mentioned it, for
fear of unnecessarily alarming Ellen. Still, Harry, I confess I am
very, very anxious."
"So indeed am I, now you tell me about the _Majeronas_," I observed;
"but still we must hope for the best. I cannot believe that anything so
dreadful has happened as our fears suggest. Our poor mother, and sweet
Fanny and Aunt Martha, to have been carried off and killed! Oh, I
cannot think it true!"
"Don't you think it possible they got notice that they were about to be
attacked, and made their escape in good time?" observed Arthur, in a
more cheerful voice. "The natives, when they found that their prey had
escaped them, would very naturally burn the house; and if they found any
signals which Mr Faithful might have left, would have destroyed them
also. I will ask Domingos; I think he will agree with me."
When we told Domingos what Arthur had said, he declared that he thought
that was the most likely thing to have occurred. The suggestion raised
our spirits. Domingos, however, advised as not to remain on the spot,
lest the natives might discover us. Having made another search round,
we accordingly took our way back to the canoe.
Shoving off, we went down the stream into the main river. As we paddled
slowly along the shore, we examined it carefully, still in hopes of
finding some signals which might direct us. We had gone on for some
short distance, when Arthur, looking up at the hill, exclaimed, "See!
who can those be?"
There we saw several figures with bows in their hands and high feathery
plumes on their heads.
"They must be the _Majeronas_," exclaimed John. "We have indeed only
just retreated in time."
"Oh, perhaps they will follow us!" cried Ellen.
"I do not think we need fear that," said Arthur, "as we have seen no
canoes."
The Indians appeared only just to have discovered us. We saw them
gesticulating to each other; and then they hurried down towards the
river. We at once turned the canoe's head away from the bank, and
paddled out into the centre of the stream, where we should be beyond the
reach of their arrows.
By working away with our paddles we soon ran out of sight of them.
Having rested for some minutes to recover from our exertions, we
continued on down the stream. As the day was drawing on, it was
necessary to look out for an island on which to encamp, as we had
received so strong a warning not to land on the main shore. We kept a
bright look-out, but no signs of an island could we see. The wind,
which had hitherto been light, now increased to a gentle breeze; and as
it was in our favour, we hoisted our sail and stood on, glad to be
relieved from the labour of paddling. Thus we continued our progress,
hoping to get before night to a distance from our savage enemies.
The night came on, but there was still sufficient light to enable us to
steer down the centre of the river. John proposed that we should form
two watches; he and Arthur in one, Domingos and I in the other. This,
of course, was agreed to. After some difficulty, we persuaded Ellen and
Maria to lie down on the hammocks which were spread in the middle of the
canoe under the awning. John and Arthur took the first watch; Domingos
coiling himself away in the stern of the canoe, and I in the bows; to be
ready for service should we be required.
Tired as I was, it was some time before I could manage to go to sleep.
I lay looking up at the dark sky--out of which thousands of bright stars
shone forth--and listening to the ripple of the water against the bows
of the canoe. At length the sound lulled me to sleep, though I felt
conscious that Arthur had covered me up with a piece of matting. It
seemed but a moment afterwards that I heard his voice calling me to get
up and take his place. I raised myself, and saw Domingos at the helm,
and the sails still set. Arthur then lay down in the place I had
occupied; and I did him the same service he had rendered me, by covering
him carefully up so as to protect him from the night air.
It was the first time we had voyaged at night; and as we glided calmly
on, I could not help regretting that we had not oftener sailed at the
same hour, and thus escaped the heat of the day, the mosquitoes on
shore, and enjoyed the cool breeze on the river. As I did not feel at
all sleepy, I proposed to Domingos that we should allow John and Arthur
to rest on, and continue ourselves on watch till daylight, when perhaps
we might find some spot on which to land with safety.
We thus glided on for some hours, and were expecting to see the dawn
break over the trees on our larboard bow, when the channel became even
narrower than before. Had it not been that the current still ran with
us, I should have supposed that we had entered some other stream; but
the way the water ran showed that this could not be the case. We
therefore continued on as before. A bright glow now appeared in the
eastern sky. Rapidly it increased till the whole arch of heaven was
suffused with a ruddy light. Suddenly John awoke, and uttered an
exclamation of surprise on finding that it was daylight. His voice
aroused the rest of the party. Just then the sun, like a mighty arch of
fire, appeared above the trees; and directly afterwards we saw, running
across the stream down which we were sailing, another and far broader
river. The mighty Maranon, as the natives call the Upper Amazon--or the
Solimoens, as it is named by the Portuguese--was before us, having
flowed down for many hundred miles from the mountain lake of Lauricocha,
in Peru, 12,500 feet above the sea-level.
As we gazed up and down the vast river, no object intervened till sky
and water met, as on the ocean; while, on either side, the tall forest
walls diminished in the perspective till they sank into thin lines.
Even here, however, it is narrow, though already very deep, compared to
the width it attains lower down. Our satisfaction at having escaped
from the savages and arrived at the high road, along which we were to
proceed, was counterbalanced by our anxiety for our family. We might,
after all, have passed the spot where they were waiting for us; and yet
it was not likely they would remain in the neighbourhood of such savages
as the Majeronas had shown themselves. We agreed, therefore, at all
risks, at once to row in towards the shore, and examine it carefully as
we proceeded downwards.
We had not gone far, when we came in sight of a sand-bank, which offered
a favourable spot for landing. We accordingly rowed in, looking
carefully about for any signs of natives. As no huts or any human
beings were to be seen, we landed.
While Domingos and Arthur were collecting wood for a fire, John and I,
followed by True, with our guns, made our way through the forest, that
we might survey the country, so as not to be taken by surprise. We had
not gone far when I caught sight of three animals, which I should have
taken for young hogs, from their brown colour, long coarse hair, and
their general appearance, had they not been sitting up on their
haunches, as no hog ever sat. They had large heads, and heavy blunt
muzzles, and thick clumsy bodies without tails. They cast inquisitive
looks at me, and would have sat on apparently till I had got close up to
them, had not True dashed forward, when, uttering low sounds, between a
grunt and a bark, they rushed towards the water. I fired at one of
them, and knocked it over. The rest reached the river, though pursued
by True, and instantly dived beneath the surface. John came up, and on
examining the animal's mouth, we found it to be a rodent, and thus knew
it to be a capybara, the largest of its order. When alarmed, it rushes
to the water, swims as well as the otter, and takes its prey in a
similar manner. It is, from its aquatic habits, often called the
water-hog. It had short legs, and peculiarly long feet, partially
webbed, which enable it to swim so well.
Directly afterwards, True turned a smaller animal out of a hollow trunk.
It made off through the forest at great speed; but John shot it just as
it was running behind a tree. It proved to be an agouti, also a rodent.
It is in some respects like a hare or rabbit, with the coarse coat of a
hog, but feeds itself like a squirrel. It is classed with the
guinea-pig. It feeds on vegetables, and is very destructive to
sugar-canes, which it rapidly gnaws through, and does not object to
animal food.
While I carried our prizes down in triumph to Domingos, that he might
prepare a portion of them for breakfast, John continued his search
through the woods. I was on the point of joining him, when I heard him
cry, "Look out!" and at the same instant another animal burst through
the wood with True at his heels. I fired, and killed it. This also was
a rodent; and John said that it was a paca, which lives always in the
neighbourhood of water, to which it takes readily when chased. It has
its habitation in burrows, which it forms a short distance only beneath
the surface. The opening it conceals with dried leaves and small
branches. Once in the water, it swims and dives so well that it
generally escapes from the hunter. It was of a thick and somewhat
clumsy form, about two feet in length and one in height. The hinder
limbs were longer than the front ones, and considerably bent. The claws
were thick and strong, fitted for digging. It had rigid whiskers, and
the ears were nearly naked.
Presently I heard John cry out.
"Harry, I believe that I have been bitten by a snake on which I trod,"
he said, in his usual calm way. "I killed the creature, and I think it
is poisonous; so go and call Domingos, for he will perhaps know what to
do. But get him away if you can, so as not to frighten Ellen."
I ran off as fast as my legs could carry me, and was thankful to find
that Ellen and Maria were sitting under the awning in the canoe, while
Domingos was cooking at the fire, assisted by Arthur. In a breathless
voice, my heart sinking with alarm, I told him what had happened.
"There is a bottle of agua ardente, and there is another thing we will
try," he said, and rushed to the canoe.
I was afraid that he would tell Ellen; but he stepped on board with an
unconcerned manner, as if he wanted something for a culinary purpose,
and returned with two of the paddles, and a bottle and cup.
We found John seated on the bank, taking off his boot and sock.
"Here, Senor John, drink this," he said, giving him the cup full of
liquid. "Senor Arthur will hold the bottle for you, while Senor Harry
and I are making a grave for your leg. We must bury it. Don't despair,
my dear master. The remedy is a wonderful one."
We were digging away, while he spoke, with the paddles, and in a few
moments John's leg was buried deep in the earth, which was pressed down
over it.
"Why, this is brandy," exclaimed John, as he swallowed the contents of a
second cup which Arthur gave him.
"Of course, my dear master," answered Domingos, who, folding his arms,
stood by, watching the effect of his treatment. "Some people think one
remedy the best, some another. It is wise to try both. The brandy
drives, the earth draws the poison forth."
Oh, how anxiously we watched John's countenance! No change took place.
Arthur and I went back, lest Ellen might be alarmed at our absence,
leaving Domingos, who stood unmoved, in the same attitude as at first,
watching his patient. At last Ellen put her head out from under the
toldo, and asked when breakfast would be ready, as she and Maria were
very hungry.
"What shall we tell her?" asked Arthur.
Just then I looked up, and saw Domingos coming towards us, waving the
dead snake in his hand, and John following, walking as briskly as if
nothing had been the matter with him.
"A wonderful cure has been wrought," he exclaimed, as he reached us.
"But don't tell Domingos yet. Finding myself much as usual, I bethought
me, as I sat with my leg in the hole, of looking into the reptile's
mouth; and though it has a set of sharp teeth, I could discover no
poisonous fangs. I am only sorry that so much good brandy was expended
on me, which may be wanted on another occasion."
We now summoned Ellen, and told her in English what had occurred.
Arthur and I having examined the head of the snake, to assure ourselves
that John was right, cut it off and threw it into the river, while True
breakfasted off the body, which we cooked for him. Domingos did not
discover the truth till some time afterwards; and we heard him
frequently boasting of the certain cure he knew for snake bites. I
cannot, however, say that his remedy would not prove efficacious.
Having made a good breakfast on the agouti, we once more embarked, and
glided down the stream.
I have not dwelt much on our anxiety, but, as may be supposed, we felt
it greatly, and our conversation could not fail to be subdued and sad.
Ellen, however, after her first grief had subdued, did her utmost, dear,
good little sister that she was, to cheer our spirits. Often she kept
repeating, "I am sure they have escaped! We shall before long find
them. Depend on it, papa would not allow himself to be surprised! I
have been praying for them ever since we commenced our journey, and I
know my prayers will be heard."
Although I had felt great despondency, I could not help being influenced
by Ellen's hopeful spirit. Still it seemed to me that the probability
of our discovering them along the wide-extended banks of the river was
but small indeed. They, too, how anxious they must be feeling on our
account; for if they had been in danger, as we supposed, they must know
we should be subjected to the same. However, I will not dwell longer on
this subject, but only again repeat that our parents and our aunt and
Fanny were never absent from our thoughts. A light breeze springing up,
we hoisted our mat sail, and glided down the river. Nothing could be
more delightful. The light air cooled us, and kept off the mosquitoes;
and as the nights were bright, had we not been anxious to examine the
shore, we agreed that we might have continued our voyage till it was
necessary to land and procure food.
Suddenly, however, the wind again dropped. The sun, which had hitherto
been casting his undimmed rays down on our heads, became obscured, as if
a thick curtain had been drawn across it. The whole sky assumed a
yellow tinge. Domingos looked anxiously round.
"I do not like the look of the weather," he observed. "It would be wise
to lower the sail."
We had just got it down, when a low murmur was heard in the distant
woods, increasing rapidly to a subdued roar. A white line appeared
across the river. It came rapidly towards us. Now we could feel the
wind blowing against our cheeks, and the whole surface of the water
became suddenly rippled into wavelets, from which the white foam flew
off in thick sheets. The sky had again changed to a greenish hue. The
waves every moment increased in height.
"A hurricane is coming on," observed Domingos. "We cannot face it."
We put the canoe's head towards the shore.
"Paddle, my masters! paddle!" exclaimed Domingos. "We must reach the
shore before the storm breaks with its full violence, or we may be
lost!"
We had not paddled many strokes before we felt the canoe driven forward
by the wind at a rapid rate. We exerted ourselves, running before the
wind, and edging in at the same time towards the northern shore. Every
instant the hurricane gained strength; and as we looked upward, the
whole sky, we saw, had assumed a red and black appearance. A little
ahead appeared a sand-bank, on which stood a number of tall-legged
birds, cormorants, white cranes, and other waders, large and small. We
might land on the island, and save our lives; but the wind setting
directly on it, we might lose our canoe, or, at all events, the water
would break into her and destroy our goods. Domingos steered the canoe
admirably, while we made every effort to keep off the island. Presently
down came the blast with greater fury than before. Some of the smaller
birds were carried off their legs and borne away by the wind. Others,
throwing themselves down, stuck their beaks into the sand, and clung on
with their long claws, their feet extended. In spite of our danger,
Arthur and I could not help laughing at the extraordinary appearance of
the birds, as they thus lay in great numbers along the sand, looking as
if they had been shot, and were lying dead till the sportsman could pick
them up. On we drove, narrowly escaping being thrown upon the bank, on
which the foaming seas broke with terrific force.
"Here it comes again!" cried Domingos. "Paddle bravely, and be not
alarmed."
As he spoke, another blast, still more violent, struck us, and in an
instant the covering of our canoe was torn away and lifted up. In vain
we attempted to catch it. It was borne off by the wind towards the
shore. So high were the waves which thus suddenly rose up, that we
expected every moment to be overwhelmed; while we feared that unless we
could manage to anchor we should be driven on the bank to leeward, where
the canoe would be filled with water, and everything in her carried
away. To resist the fury of the waves was impossible. In vain we
strove to get under the lee of the island. Destruction yawned before
us, when we saw, amid the thick forest trees which lined the bank, a
narrow opening. It was the entrance, we hoped, to an igarape,--one of
those curious water-ways, or canoe paths, which form a network of canals
many hundred miles in extent, on either bank of the Amazon. We exerted
ourselves to the utmost to reach it, although the seas which struck the
side of the canoe threatened every moment to upset her before we could
do so. Ellen and Maria had got out their paddles, and laboured away
with all their strength, Maria's stout arms indeed being a very
efficient help. Domingos kept working away with his paddle, now on one
side, now on another, now steering astern as he saw was requisite,
twisting his features into a hundred different forms, and showing his
white teeth as he shouted out in his eagerness. The tall trees were
bending before the blast as if they were about to be torn from their
roots and carried bodily inland. My fear was, on seeing them thus
agitated, that should we get beneath them they might fall and crush us.
Still we had no choice. It seemed doubtful whether we should reach the
mouth of the igarape.
We redoubled our efforts, and just grazing by a point which projected
from the shore, on which, had we been thrown, we should have been upset,
we darted into the canal. Even there the water hissed and roared as it
was forced into the narrow channel. As an arrow flies through the
zarabatana, so we sped up the igarape. For a few seconds Domingos had
to exert himself to steer the canoe in mid-channel, to prevent her being
dashed against the roots of the tall trees which projected into it. At
first the roar of the wind among the trunks and branches was almost
deafening. Gradually it decreased, and in a short time we could hear
only the distant murmur of the tempest on the outside of the woody
boundary. We were not, however, to escape altogether from it, for down
came the rain in a pelting shower, to which, from the loss of our
awning, we were completely exposed. We quickly, however, rigged another
with our sail, which afforded shelter to Ellen and Maria. Having
secured the canoe, we all crept under it, and consulted what we should
next do. What with the mantle of clouds across the sky, and the thick
arch of boughs over our heads, so great was the darkness that we could
scarcely persuade ourselves that night was not coming on. We sat
patiently, hoping that the rain, which pattered down with so loud a
noise that it was necessary to raise our voices to make each other hear,
would at length cease. In about half an hour, the shower-bath to which
we had been exposed came to an end. But still drops fell thickly from
the boughs, and the darkness proved to us that the clouds had not yet
cleared away.
After our unsatisfactory meeting with the natives, we were anxious not
to remain longer on that part of the shore than necessary. Accordingly
we once more paddled down the igarape. We soon found, however, that the
wind was blowing too hard to allow us to venture out on the main stream.
On passing downwards we observed a somewhat open space on the north
side, and despairing of continuing our voyage that night, we determined
to encamp there. Securing our canoe, in which Ellen and Maria sat under
shelter, the rest of us, with axes in our hands, set to work to clear
the ground and build a couple of huts. We had become such proficients
in the art that this we soon accomplished. On account of the weather we
built one of them, not only with a roof, but with back and sides, in
which Ellen and her attendant could be sheltered. To our own also we
built a side on the quarter from which the wind came. Our difficulty
was to light a fire. But hunting about, we found some dried leaves in
the hollow of a tree, and there was no lack of wood, which, after
chopping off the wet outside, would burn readily.
Having made all preparations, we conducted Ellen and Maria to their hut,
and carried up our goods, which we placed within it, under shelter. We
felt somewhat anxious at our position; but we hoped that the rain would
keep any natives who might be in the neighbourhood from wandering about,
and by the following morning we should be able to proceed on our voyage.
Should we not meet with our father on our way down, we resolved to stop
at the nearest Brazilian town on the banks, and there obtain assistance
in instituting a more rigid search than we could make by ourselves. Of
one thing we were certain, that had he escaped, and got thus far, he
would stay there till our arrival. Still we did not abandon all hopes
of finding him before that.
We had taken everything out of the canoe, with the exception of the
paddles, even to the sail, which served as a carpet for Ellen's hut. We
next turned our attention to cooking further portions of the animals we
had killed in the morning. In spite of the storm raging outside, and
our anxiety, as we sat round the blazing fire, Ellen and Maria having
joined us, the smoke keeping the mosquitoes somewhat at bay, we all felt
more cheerful than might have been expected. Midnight had now come on;
and having cut up a further supply of wood to keep the fire burning, we
slung our hammocks and turned into them, trusting to True to keep watch
for us.