the moment before all was gloom.
"I think, patron," continued the tapuyo. "We may as well stop swimming
for a while, till we see which way the sun goes. Then we can make a
fresh start. If we keep on now, we may be only making way in the wrong
direction."
The tired swimmers were only too ready to yield compliance to this bit
of advice. The Mundurucu made one more endeavour to catch sight of the
tree-tops, and, being still unsuccessful, resigned himself to
inactivity, and along with the rest lay motionless upon the water.
CHAPTER FIFTY.
GUIDED BY A SHADOW.
In this way about an hour was spent; though by no means in solemn
silence. Perfectly at ease, so far as physical comfort was concerned,
upon their liquid couch the swimmers could converse, as if stretched
upon a carpet of meadow-grass; and they passed their time in discussing
the chances of their ultimate escape from that cruel situation, to which
an unlucky accident had consigned them. They were not altogether
relieved from apprehension as to their present predicament. If the sky
should become again overcast, they would be worse off than ever, since
there was the loss of time to be considered. All were constantly
turning their eyes upwards, and scanning the firmament, to see if there
were any signs of fresh clouds.
Munday looked towards the zenith with a different design. He was
watching for the sun to decline. In due time his watchfulness was
rewarded; not so much by observation of the sun itself, as by a
contrivance which declared the course of the luminary, long before it
could have been detected by the eye.
Having cautioned the others to keep still, so that there should be no
disturbance in the water,--otherwise perfectly tranquil,--he held his
knife in such a way that the blade stood up straight above the surface.
Taking care to keep it in the exact perpendicular, he watched with
earnest eye, as a philosopher watches the effect of some chemical
combination. In a short time he was gratified by observing a _shadow_.
The blade, well balanced, cast an oblique reflection on the water; at
first, slight, but gradually becoming more elongated, as the experiment
proceeded.
Becoming at length convinced that he knew west from east, the tapuyo
restored his knife to its place, and, calling to his companions to
follow him, he struck off in the direction pointed out to him by the
shadow of the steel. This would take the swimmers in an easterly
direction; but it mattered not what direction so long as it carried them
out of the lagoon. As they proceeded onward, the guide occasionally
assured himself of keeping the same course, by repeating the experiment
with his knife; but after a time he no longer needed to consult his
queer sun-dial, having discovered a surer guide in the spray of the
forest, which at length loomed up along the line of the horizon.
It was close upon sunset when they swam in among the drooping branches,
and once more, with dripping skins, climbed up into the tops of the
trees. Had it not been that they were glad to get to any port, they
might have felt chagrin on discovering that chance had directed them to
the very same roost where they had perched on the preceding night.
The drowned guariba which Munday had carried from the middle of the
lagoon was roasted, and furnished their evening meal; and the epicure
who would turn up his nose at such a viand has never tasted food under
the shadow of an Amazonian forest.
CHAPTER FIFTY ONE.
AROUND THE EDGE.
Discouraged by their failure, our adventurers remained upon their perch
till nearly noon of the next day, in listless lassitude. The exertions
of the preceding day had produced a weariness that required more than a
night's rest, for not only their bodies, but their spirits were under
the influence of their long toil, until their state of mind bordered
upon despondency. As the hours wore on, and their fatigue was gradually
relieved by rest, their spirits rose in like proportion; and before the
sun had reached its meridian, the instinctive desire of life sprang up
within their bosoms, and once more they began to consider what steps
should be taken to prolong it.
Should they make another attempt to cross the lagoon by swimming? What
chance would there be of steering in the right course, any more than
upon the day before? They were just as likely to go astray a second
time, and perhaps with a less fortunate _finale_. If again lost amidst
the waste of waters, they might not be able to get sight of the
tree-tops, but swim on in circles or crooked turnings, until death,
arising from sheer exhaustion, or want of food, should complete their
misery.
Even the Mundurucu no longer urged the course in which he had formerly
expressed such confidence; and for some time he declined giving any
advice whatever,--his silence and his gloomy looks showing that he felt
humiliated by the failure of his plan. No one thought of reproaching
him; for although their faith in his power was not quite so strong as it
had hitherto been, there was yet confidence in his superior skill. Had
they been castaways from a ship, escaping in an open boat, or on some
raft or spar, in the middle of the great ocean, their cook would
doubtless have disputed his right to remain master. But in the midst of
that strange inland sea, whose shores and islands consisted only of
tree-tops, the Mozambique acknowledged himself to be no more than a
novice.
Trevannion himself took the lead in suggesting the next plan. It was
not intended to give up the idea of crossing the lagoon. It was a
general belief that on the other side there must be land; and therefore
to reach it became the paramount thought of the party. To go around it,
by keeping upon the trees, was clearly out of the question. Even had
these continued all the way with interlacing branches, still the journey
would have been one that apes alone could perform. It would have
occupied days, weeks, perhaps a month; and what certainty was there of
finding food for such a length of time? Still, if they could not travel
upon the tree-tops, what was to hinder them from going _under_ them?
Why should they not use the forest to steer by,--swimming along the edge
of the trees, and making use of them at intervals for rest, and for a
sleeping-place during the night?
The idea was excellent, and, coming from Trevannion himself, was of
course approved without one opposing voice. Even the Indian
acknowledged that it was a sagacious design, and superior to his own.
Fortunately it required but slight preparation for trial, and as the sun
shone down from the zenith they forsook their resting-place, and once
more betook themselves to the water, with their swimming-belts carefully
adjusted again about them.
CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
THE MASSARANDUBA.
They advanced at the rate of about a mile an hour. Could they have kept
on steadily, this would have given them ten or twelve miles a day, and
two or three days might have brought them to the other side of the
lagoon. It was necessary, however, that they should stop at intervals
to obtain rest; and their progress was further impeded by the piosoca
plants,--the huge water-lilies already described,--whose broad, circular
leaves, lying along the surface like gigantic frying-pans, came directly
in their course. Here and there they had to traverse a tract of these
lilies several acres in extent, where the rims of the rounded leaves
almost touched each other; and the thick succulent stalks formed a
tangle underneath, through which it was very difficult for a swimmer to
make way. More than once they were compelled to go around these watery
gardens for a distance of many hundreds of yards, but thus shortening
the journey made in the right direction.
On account of such impediments they had not gone more than three miles
from their point of starting, when the Mundurucu recommended a halt for
the night, although it could not have been later than six o'clock, as
could be told by the sun, still high up in the heavens.
"I am hungry, patron," said the Indian at last; "so are you all. We
must have some supper, else how can we go on?"
"Supper!" echoed Trevannion. "Yes, sure enough, we are hungry. I knew
that an hour ago. But upon what do you propose to sup? I see nothing
but trees with plenty of leaves, but no fruit. We cannot live upon
leaves like the sloth. We must be starving before we take to that."
"We shall sup upon milk, master, if you don't object to our making a
camping-place close by."
"Milk!" exclaimed Tom. "What div yez say, Misther Munday? Div yez mane
milk? Och! don't be after temptin' wan's stomach with a dilicacy that
can't be obtained in this land av wather! Shure now we're not only a
hundred modes from the tail av a cow, but a thousand, may be, from that
same."
"You may be wrong there," interrupted the Paraense. "There are cows in
the Gapo, as well as upon land. You have seen them yourself as we came
down the river?"
"Troth, yis,--if yez mane the fish-cow," (the Irishman alluded to the
_Vaca marina_, or manatee,--the _peixe-boi_ or fish-cow of the
Portuguese, several species of which inhabit the Amazon waters). "But
shure the great brute could not be milked, if we did cotch wan av them;
an' if we did we should not take the throuble, when by sthrippin' the
skin av her carcass we'd get somethin' far betther for our suppers, in
the shape av a fat steak."
"Yonder is what the Mundurucu means!" said the guide. "Yonder stands
the cow that can supply us with milk for our supper,--ay, and with bread
too to go along with it; don't you see the _Massaranduba_?"
At first they could see nothing that particularly claimed attention.
But by following the instructions of the guide, and raising their heads
a little, they at length caught sight of a tree, standing at some
distance from the forest edge, and so far overtopping the others as to
appear like a giant among pygmies. It was in reality a vegetable
giant,--the great massaranduba of the Amazon,--one of the most
remarkable trees to be found even in a forest where more strange species
abound than in any other part of the world. To Tom and some others of
the party the words of the Mundurucu were still a mystery. How was a
tree to supply them with a supper of bread and milk?
Trevannion and Richard required no further explanation. The former had
heard of this singular tree; the latter had seen it,--nay, more, had
drank of its milk, and eaten of its fruit. It was with great joy the
young Paraense now looked upon its soaring leafy top, as it not only
reminded him of a spectacle he had often observed in the woods skirting
the suburbs of his native city, but promised, as the tapuyo had
declared, to relieve the pangs of hunger, that had become agonisingly
keen.
CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.
A VEGETABLE COW.
The tree which had thus determined them to discontinue their journey,
and which was to furnish them with lodgings for the night, was the
famous _palo de vaca_, or "cow-tree" of South America, known also as the
_arbol de leche_, or "milk-tree." It has been described by Humboldt
under the name _Galactodendron_, but later botanical writers, not
contented with the very appropriate title given to it by the great
student of Nature, have styled it _Brosium_. It belongs to the natural
order of the _Atrocarpads_, which, by what might appear a curious
coincidence, includes also the celebrated breadfruit. What may seem
stranger still, the equally famous upas-tree of Java is a scion of the
same stock, an _atrocarpad_! Therefore, just as in one family there are
good boys and bad boys, (it is to be hoped there are none of the latter
in yours,) so in the family of the atrocarpads there are trees producing
food and drink both wholesome to the body and delicious to the palate,
while there are others in whose sap, flowers, and fruit are concealed
the most virulent of poisons.
The massaranduba is not the only species known as _palo de vaca_, or
cow-tree. There are many others so called, whose sap is of a milky
nature. Some yield a milk that is pleasant to the taste and highly
nutritious, of which the "hya-hya" (_Tabernaemontana utibis_), another
South American tree, is the most conspicuous. This last belongs to the
order of the _Apocyanae_, or dog-banes, while still another order, the
_Sapotacae_, includes among its genera several species of cow-tree. The
massaranduba itself was formerly classed among the _Sapotads_.
It is one of the largest trees of the Amazonian forest, frequently found
two hundred feet in height, towering above the other trees, with a top
resembling an immense vegetable dome. Logs one hundred feet long,
without a branch, have often been hewn out of its trunk, ready for the
saw-mill. Its timber is very hard and fine grained, and will stand the
weather better than most other South American trees; but it cannot be
procured in any great quantity, because, like many other trees of the
Amazon, it is of a solitary habit, only two or three, or at most half a
dozen, growing within the circuit of a mile.
It is easily distinguished from trees of other genera by its reddish,
ragged bark, which is deeply furrowed, and from a decoction of which the
Indians prepare a dye of a dark red colour. The fruit, about the size
of an apple, is full of a rich juicy pulp, exceedingly agreeable to the
taste, and much relished. This is the bread which the Mundurucu hoped
to provide for the supper of his half-famished companions.
But the most singular, as well as the most important, product of the
massaranduba is its milky juice. This is obtained by making an incision
in the bark, when the white sap flows forth in a copious stream, soon
filling a calabash or other vessel held under it. On first escaping
from the tree it is of the colour and about the consistency of rich
cream, and, but for a slightly balsamic odour might be mistaken for the
genuine produce of the dairy. After a short exposure to the air it
curdles, a thready substance forming upon the surface, resembling
cheese, and so called by the natives. When diluted with water, the
coagulation does not so rapidly take place; and it is usually treated in
this manner, besides being strained, before it is brought to the table.
The natives use it by soaking their _farinha_ or maize-bread with the
sap, and it is also used as cream in tea, chocolate, and coffee, many
people preferring it on account of the balsamic flavour which it imparts
to these beverages.
The milk of the massaranduba is in great demand throughout all the
district where the tree is found, both in the Spanish and Portuguese
territories of tropical South America. In Venezuela it is extensively
used by the negroes, and it has been remarked that these people grow
fatter during the season of the year when the _palo de vaca_ is plenty.
Certain it is that no ill effects have been known to result from a free
use of it; and the vegetable cow cannot be regarded otherwise than as
one of the most singular and interesting productions of beneficent
Nature.
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR.
A MILK SUPPER.
It was some time before they swam under the massaranduba's
wide-spreading branches, as it did not stand on the edge of the forest,
and for a short time after entering among the other trees it was out of
sight. The instincts of the Indian, however, directed him, and in due
time it again came before their eyes, its rough reddish trunk rising out
of the water like a vast ragged column.
As might have been expected, its huge limbs were laden with parasites,
trailing down to the surface of the water. By these they found no
difficulty in making an ascent, and were soon safely installed; its huge
coreaceous leaves of oblong form and pointed at the tops, many of them
nearly a foot in length, forming a shade against the fervent rays of the
sun, still several degrees above the horizon.
As the Indian had anticipated, the tree was in full bearing, and ere
long a number of its apples were plucked, and refreshing the parched
palates that would have pronounced them exquisite had they been even
less delicious than they were. Munday made no stay even to taste the
fruit. He was determined on giving his companions the still rarer treat
he had promised them, a supper of milk; and not until he had made some
half-dozen notches with his knife, and placed under each a
sapucaya-shell detached from the swimming-belts, did he cease his
exertions.
They had not long to wait. The vegetable cow proved a free milker, and
in twenty minutes each of the party had a pericarp in hand full of
delicious cream, which needed no sugar to make it palatable. They did
not stay to inquire how many quarts their new cow could give. Enough
for them to know that there was sufficient to satisfy the appetites of
all for that night.
When, after supper, the conversation naturally turned to the
peculiarities of this remarkable tree, many other facts were elicited in
regard to its useful qualities. Richard told them that in Para it was
well-known, its fruit and milk being sold in the streets by the negro
market-women, and much relished by all classes of the inhabitants of
that city; that its sap was used by the Paraense joiners in the place of
glue, to which it was equal, if not superior, guitars, violins, and
broken dishes being put together with it in the most effective manner,
its tenacity holding against both heat and dampness. Another curious
fact was, that the sap continues to run long after the tree has been
felled: that even the logs lying in the yard of a saw-mill have been
known to yield for weeks, even months, the supply required by the
sawyers for creaming their coffee!
And now our adventurers, admonished by the setting of the sun, were
about stretching themselves along the branches, with the intention of
going to sleep. But they were not to retire without an incident, though
fortunately it was such as to add to the cheerfulness lately inspiring
the spirits of all, even to the macaw and little monkey, both of whom
had amply regaled themselves upon the succulent fruits of the
massaranduba. The great ape, again left behind, had been altogether
forgotten. No one of the party was thinking of it; or, if any one was,
it was only with a very subdued regret. All knew that the coaita could
take care of itself, and under all circumstances it would be safe
enough. For all this, they would have been very glad still to have kept
it in their company, had that been possible; and all of them were glad
when a loud chattering at no great distance was recognised as the
salutation of their old acquaintance, the coaita. Directly after, the
animal itself was seen springing from tree to tree, until by a last long
leap it lodged itself on the branches of the massaranduba, and was soon
after seated upon the shoulders of Tipperary Tom.
While the swimmers were proceeding by slow stages, the ape had kept them
company among the tops of the adjacent trees; and, but for its being
delayed by having to make the circuit around the various little bays, it
might have been astride the vegetable cow long before the swimmers
themselves. Coming late, it was not the less welcome, and before going
to sleep it was furnished with a fruit supper, and received a series of
caresses from Tom, that in some measure consoled it for his double
desertion.
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE.
ONLY A DEAD-WOOD.
Despite the coarse netting of the hammocks on which they were
constrained to pass the night, our adventurers slept better than was
their wont, from a certain feeling of security,--a confidence that God
had not forgotten them. He who could give them food in the forest could
also guide them out of the labyrinth into which their own negligence had
led them.
A prayer to Him preceded their breakfast on the cream of the cow-tree,
and with another they launched themselves upon their strings of shells,
with renewed confidence, and proceeded along the curving selvage of the
trees. As before, they found their progress impeded by the "ovens" of
the piosoca; and despite their utmost exertions, at noon they had made
scarce three miles from their starting-point, for the gigantic tree that
had sheltered them was full in sight, and even at sunset they could not
have been more than six miles from it.
In the forest about them there appeared no resting-place for the night.
The trees stood closely together, but without any interlacing of
branches, or large horizontal limbs upon which they might seek repose.
For a time it appeared as if they would have to spend the night upon the
water. This was a grave consideration, and the guide knew it. With
their bodies immersed during the midnight hours,--chill even within the
tropics,--the consequences might be serious, perhaps fatal. One way or
another a lodgement must be obtained among the tree-tops. It was
obtained, but after much difficulty. The climbing to it was a severe
struggle, and the seat was of the most uncomfortable kind. There was no
supper, or comfort of any kind.
With the earliest appearance of day they were all once more in the
water, and slowly pursuing their weary way. Now slower than ever, for
in proportion to their constantly decreasing strength the obstruction
from the piosocas appeared to increase. The lagoon, or at least its
border, had become a labyrinth of lilies.
While thus contending against adverse circumstances, an object came
under their eyes that caused a temporary abstraction from their misery.
Something strange was lying along the water at the distance of about a
quarter of a mile from them. It appeared to be some ten or twelve yards
in length, and stood quite high above the surface. It was of a dark
brown colour, and presented something the appearance of a bank of dried
mud, with some pieces of stout stakes projecting upward. Could it be
this? Was it a bank or spit of land?
The hearts of the swimmers leaped as this thought, inspired by their
wishes, came into every mind. If land, it could be only an islet, for
there was water all around it,--that they could perceive. But if so, an
islet, if no bigger than a barn-door, would still be land, and therefore
welcome. They might stretch their limbs upon it, and obtain a good
night's rest, which they had not done since the wreck of the galatea.
Besides an islet ever so small--if only a sand-bar or bank of mud--would
be a sort of evidence that the real dry land was not far off.
The dark form at first sight appeared to be close in to the trees, but
Munday, standing up in the water, pronounced it to be at some distance
from them,--between fifty and a hundred yards. As it was evident that
the trees themselves were up to their necks in water, it could hardly be
an island. Still there might be some elevated spot, a ridge or mound,
that overtopped the inundation. Buoyed up by this hope, the swimmers
kept on towards it, every eye scanning intently its outlines in order to
make out its real character. All at once the projections which they had
taken for stakes disappeared from the supposed spot of mud. They had
assumed the shape of large wading birds of dark plumage, which, having
spread their long, triangular wings, were now hovering above the heads
of the swimmers, by their cries proclaiming that they were more
astonished at the latter than they could possibly be at them.
It was not until they had arrived within a hundred yards of the object
that its true character was declared. "_Pa Terra_!" Munday cried, in a
sonorous and somewhat sorrowful voice, as he sank despairingly upon his
breast;--"no island,--no bank,--no land of any kind. _Only a
dead-wood_!"
"A dead-wood!" repeated the patron, not comprehending what he meant, and
fancying from the chagrined air of the Indian that there might be
mischief in the thing.
"That's all, master. The carcass of an old _Manguba_, that's been long
since stripped of his limbs, and has been carried here upon the current
of the Gapo; don't you see his huge shoulders rising above the water?"
Richard proceeded to explain the Indian's meaning. "The trunk of a dead
tree, uncle. It's the silk-cotton-tree, or manguba, as Munday calls it.
I can tell that by its floating so lightly on the water. It appears to
be anchored, though; or perhaps it is moored among the stalks of the
piosocas."