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He warmly thanked Lina for the good idea she had had of following the liana, and they all started on the road to the fazenda, where Fragoso was received in a way that gave him neither wish nor want to try his wretched task again. THE HALF-MILE square of forest was cleared.
"Very pleased to see you again," said Benito; "but you have not forgotten that you promised to come to the fazenda to my father?" "I have not forgotten it," answered Torres. "And you would have done better to have accepted my offer; it would have allowed you to have waited for our departure, rested from you fatigues, and descended with us to the frontier; so many days of walking saved."
The weather was splendid, the heat being tempered by the refreshing breezes which blew from off the Cordilleras, and everything invited them out for an excursion into the country. Benito and Manoel had offered to accompany Minha through the thick woods which bordered the right bank of the Amazon opposite the fazenda. It was, in a manner, a farewell visit to the charming environs of Iquitos.
At the time that we saw him with his friend Benito, Manoel Valdez had already obtained his first step, and he had come away on leave for some months to the fazenda, where he was accustomed to pass his holidays. 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.
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 inexpressible something which tells you that the man is genuine and of frank and upright character.
My orders to the Junta of Fazenda not to pay any claims with the exception of the ordinary expenses of Government till those of the squadron had been satisfied, were, however, almost superogatory; for, on a visit of inspection to the arsenal on the 2nd of February, it appeared that they had established a system of not paying any debts, even those incurred for the provisions of the squadron, the contract prices being set down at treble the market price!
Touching were the adieus, but an engagement was made for them to see him again on their return at Manaos, and later on the fazenda of Iquitos. On the morning of the morrow, the fifth of September, the signal for departure was given. Joam Dacosta and Yaquita, with their daughter and sons, were on the deck of the enormous raft.
I cannot refrain from drawing the attention of the Imperial government to the abuses which exist in every department of the provincial government, where, notwithstanding the great revenue derived from various sources, the Junta of Fazenda possess so little credit, that their bills have actually been sold at 30 per cent. discount, and I am credibly informed that no money can, at any time, be received from the treasury without a heavy per centage being given to the inferior officers; but how such per centages are afterwards disposed of, is to me unknown.
For one reason the plan of the jangada was not yet complete, and it was necessary that its construction should not be interrupted for a day, and another was that Yaquita and Cybele, well seconded as they were by the domestics of the fazenda, had not an hour to lose.
At the conclusion of our meal, we had strong coffee without milk. The slaves had beans, carna secca, and manioc flour. 8th October. Our goal today was the Fazenda Boa Esperanza, twenty- four miles off. Four miles beyond Canto Gallo, we crossed a small waterfall, and then entered one of the most magnificent virgin forests I had yet beheld.
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