United States or Finland ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"To be sure!" answered Torres. "Our compatriot is not going to stop at the frontier," said Fragoso, "he is going on to Manaos." "Well, then," replied Benito, "if you will come on board the jangada you will be well received, and I am sure my father will give you a passage." "Willingly," said Torres; "and you will allow me to thank you in advance."
This canal afforded an easy way of gaining the river if a pirogue were in waiting for the fugitive. From the foot of the wall to the canal side was hardly a hundred yards. Benito and Manoel decided that about eight o'clock in the evening one of the pirogues, with two strong rowers, under the command of the pilot Araujo, should start from the jangada.
"Gentlemen," said Torres, "if you like, I am ready to follow you to the landing-place." "Come, then," answered Benito. A quarter of an hour afterward Torres was on board the jangada. Benito introduced him to Joam Garral, acquainting him with the circumstances under which they had previously met him, and asked him to give him a passage down to Manaos.
Piacaba floats, resists immersion, and is cheaply made very good reasons for causing it to be valuable, and making it even an article of commerce with the Old World. Above this double row of trunks and beams were disposed the joists and planks which formed the floor of the jangada, and rose about thirty inches above the load water-line.
A few days afterward the jangada passed the village of the same name, which, although built on the ground flooded for many months in the year, has become, since 1845, an important town of a hundred houses.
There it was that the jangada was to be built; thence it was that the Amazon was to float it when the time came for it to start for its destination. And here an explanatory note is necessary in regard to the geography of this immense body of water, and more especially as relating to a singular phenomenon which the riverside inhabitants describe from personal observation.
Their friendship gave rise to many a pleasant, "Ah, ah!" on the part of Benito, old Cybele, and others. To return to the Jangada. After some discussion it was decided, as the voyage was to be of some months' duration, to make it as complete and comfortable as possible.
After its departure from Manaos the jangada did not stop anywhere as it passed down the much less encumbered course of the Amazon. Day and night it moved along under the vigilant care of its trusty pilot; no more stoppages either for the gratification of the passengers or for business purposes. Unceasingly it progressed, and the end rapidly grew nearer.
This memoir, as we know, was the history of his life from his entry into the offices of the diamond arrayal until the very moment when the jangada stopped before Manaos. Joam Dacosta was pondering over his whole career. He again lived his past life from the moment when, as an orphan, he had set foot in Tijuco.
The jangada departed at daybreak, and passed the little archipelago of the Iatio and Cochiquinas islands, after having left the village of the latter name on the right. Several mouths of smaller unnamed affluents showed themselves on the right of the river through the spaces between the islands.
Word Of The Day