第105章
After passing one low smoky little hut half-buried in foliage, the path branched off in various directions, and the boy having left us, we took the wrong turn.We were brought to a stand soon after by the barking of dogs; and on shouting, as is customary on approaching a dwelling, "O da casa!" (Oh of the house!) a dark-skinned native, a Cafuzo, with a most unpleasant expression of countenance, came forth through the tangled maze of bushes, armed with a long knife, with which he pretended to be whittling a stick.He directed us to the house of Cypriano, which was about a mile distant along another forest road.The circumstance of the Cafuzo coming out armed to receive visitors very much astonished my companions, who talked it over at every place we visited for several days afterwards, the freest and most unsuspecting welcome in these retired places being always counted upon by strangers.
But, as Manoel remarked, the fellow may have been one of the unpardoned rebel leaders who had settled here after the recapture of Santarem in 1836, and lived in fear of being inquired for by the authorities of Santarem.After all our troubles we found Cypriano absent from home.His house was a large one, and full of people, old and young, women and children, all of whom were Indians or mamelucos.Several smaller huts surrounded the large dwelling, besides extensive open sheds containing mandioca ovens and rude wooden mills for grinding sugar-cane to make molasses.
All the buildings were embosomed in trees: it would be scarcely possible to find a more retired nook, and an air of contentment was spread over the whole establishment.Cypriano's wife, a good-looking mameluco girl, was superintending the packing of farina.
Two or three old women, seated on mats, were making baskets with narrow strips of bark from the leafstalks of palms, while others were occupied lining them with the broad leaves of a species of maranta, and filling them afterwards with farina, which was previously measured in a rude square vessel.It appeared that Senor Cypriano was a large producer of the article, selling 300baskets (sixty pounds' weight each) annually to Santarem traders.
I was sorry we were unable to see him, but it was useless waiting, as we were told all the men were at present occupied in "pucherums," and he would be unable to give me the assistance Irequired.We returned to the canoe in the evening, and, after moving out into the river, anchored and slept.
June 20th.--We had a light, baffling wind off shore all day on the 20th, and made but fourteen or fifteen miles by six p.m.
when, the wind failing us, we anchored at the mouth of a narrow channel, called Tapaiuna, which runs between a large island and the mainland.About three o'clock we passed in front of Boim, a village on the opposite (western) coast.The breadth of the river here is six or seven miles-- a confused patch of white on the high land opposite was all we saw of the village, the separate houses being undistinguishable on account of the distance.The coast along which we sailed today is a continuation of the low and flooded land of Paquiatuba.
June 21st-The next morning we sailed along the Tapaiuna channel, which is from 400 to 600 yards in breadth.We advanced but slowly, as the wind was generally dead against us, and stopped frequently to ramble ashore.Wherever the landing-place was sandy, it was impossible to walk about on account of the swarms of the terrible fire-ant, whose sting is likened by the Brazilians to the puncture of a red-hot needle.There was scarcely a square inch of ground free from them.About three p.m.
we glided into a quiet, shady creek, on whose banks an industrious white settler had located himself.I resolved to pass the rest of the day and night here, and endeavour to obtain a fresh supply of provisions, our stock of salt beef being now nearly exhausted.The situation of the house was beautiful; the little harbour being gay with water plants, Pontederiae, now full of purple blossom, from which flocks of stilt-legged water-fowl started up screaming as we entered.The owner sent a boy with my men to show them the best place for fish up the creek, and in the course of the evening sold me a number of fowls, besides baskets of beans and farina.The result of the fishing was a good supply of Jandia, a handsome spotted Siluride fish, and Piranha, a kind of Salmon.Piranhas are of several kinds, many of which abound in the waters of the Tapajos.They are caught with almost any kind of bait, for their taste is indiscriminate and their appetite most ravenous.They often attack the legs of bathers near the shore, inflicting severe wounds with their strong triangular teeth.At Paquiatuba and this place, I added about twenty species of small fishes to my collection-- caught by hook and line, or with the hand in shallow pools under the shade of the forest.
My men slept ashore, and upon the coming aboard in the morning, Pinto was drunk and insolent.According to Jose, who had kept himself sober, and was alarmed at the other's violent conduct, the owner of the house and Pinto had spent the greater part of the night together, drinking aguardente de beiju,--a spirit distilled from the mandioca root.We knew nothing of the antecedents of this man, who was a tall, strong, self-willed fellow, and it began to dawn on us that this was not a very safe travelling companion in a wild country like this.I thought it better now to make the best of our way to the next settlement, Aveyros, and get rid of him.
Our course today lay along a high rocky coast, which extended without a break for about eight miles.The height of the perpendicular rocks was from 100 to 150 feet; ferns and flowering shrubs grew in the crevices, and the summit supported a luxuriant growth of forest, like the rest of the river banks.The waves beat with a loud roar at the foot of these inhospitable barriers.