Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon

that portion of the great river which still bears the name of the Maranon, and of which the bed separate

ere settled in the interior of the province at some distance from the river. 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

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 s

heir indigenous fellow-citizens, wore only a simple shirt, light cotton trousers, and a straw hat. All lived cheerlessly enough in the village, mixing little toget

s almost in a rudimentary stage, it was only necessary to journey a league further down the r

hich our two young friends returned after

n 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 ba

six years before the date when our story opens

e of timber-felling, and his settlement, then recently forme

s 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 m

rces. Magalha?s 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,

that Joam Garral was introd

hey 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 i

rom five to six piastres a day, and could hope to become a master if he had any luck; but Magalha?s very truly observed that if the pay was good, work was only found in

nd entered resolutely into the service of the f

rral. 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, surrou

e staff of the fazenda were accommodated-the servants' offices, the cabins of the blacks, and the huts of the Indi

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 sugar-canes soon required the construction of a mill to crush the sacchariferous stalks destined to be used hereafter in the manufacture of molasses, ta

n proportion to his merits he had from the first given him an interest in the profits of his business, and f

himself, recognized the sterling qualities which her father had done. She was in love with him, but though on his side Joam had not re

ident hastene

ied home helpless to the farm, and feeling himself lost, he raised up Yaquita, who was weeping by his

all not die in peace unless by this union I kn

," Joam Garral had at first replied. "I owe you all, Magalha?s. I will never forget it, bu

ot allow him to wait; he demanded t

loved each other and they were married some hours before the de

l became the new fazender of Iquitos, to the immense sat

ould not do otherwise than grow wh

years after, a daughter. Benito and Minha, the grandchildren of the old Portu

ther, 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 a

ies 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 hi

son of a merchant in Para, was pursuing his studies in the same institution as Benito. The conformity of their characters

husband had left her. When Manoel's preliminary studies were finished, he had taken up the subject of medicine. He had a p

olidays. 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 th

t 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 fe

vigorous health, with whom all things had succeeded in life, a depth of

just man more cheerful and less reserved? Why did he seem to be happy for others and not for himself? Wa

et of resisting the climate's destructive influences, and her features, a little sharpened but still beautiful, ret

fection unbounded and unceasing for t

enito, 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 fin

image of Yaquita. A little more serious than her brother, affable, good-natured, and charitable, she was beloved by all. On this subject you could fearlessly interrogate the humblest servants of

lete, and would lack some of its features, were we

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 t

he was completely devoted. She was called Lina. One of those gentle creatures, a little spoiled, perhaps, to whom a good deal of familiar

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