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Updated: June 12, 2025
It was observed to look forward and upward toward the branch of the zamang, as if the object it dreaded was in that quarter. The eyes of all were suddenly bent in the same direction. What was their horror on beholding, stretched along the branch, the hideous body of an enormous serpent!
These were farther out. There were some, however, whose tufted crowns reached within a few yards of the lower limbs of the mimosa. The monkeys, after a short consultation, were seen scampering up the zamang. Only some of the old and strong ones went the rest remained watching below. From the earnestness of their looks it was evident they felt a lively interest in the result.
Its trunk rose full seventy feet without a branch; and then it spread out in every direction in numerous horizontal limbs, that forked and forked again until they became slender boughs. These branches were clad with the delicate pinnate leaves that characterise the family of the mimosas. Many of the pupunha palms grew under the shadow of this zamang, but not the tallest ones.
We shall see the giant "ceiba" tree, and the "zamang," and the "caoba," twined by huge parasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as though they embraced but to crush them; the "juvia," with its globe-shaped fruits as large as the human head; the "cow-tree," with its abundant fountains of rich milk; the "seringa," with its valuable gum the caoutchouc of commerce; the "cinchona," with its fever-killing bark; the curious "volador," with its winged seeds; the wild indigo, and the arnatto.
These were farther out. There were some, however, whose tufted crowns reached within a few yards of the lower limbs of the mimosa. The monkeys, after a short consultation, were seen scampering up the zamang. Only some of the old and strong ones went the rest remained watching below. From the earnestness of their looks it was evident they felt a lively interest in the result.
It might have been a puzzling question to so many boys to the monkeys it was not; for in less than a score of seconds they had settled it in their minds how the pupunhas were to be plucked. Rising high over the palms grew a large tree, with long out-reaching branches. It was the "zamang" tree a species of mimosa, and one of the most beautiful trees of South America.
That was an important question; for although the current was not very rapid just there, it was sufficiently so to carry the balza under this branch before they could push it out into the stream. Once the cable was let go, they must inevitably pass under the limb of the zamang; and if that caught the toldo, it would sweep off the frail roof like so much spider's-web.
Guapo had a strong desire to eat roast marimonda that very night; and, had he not been held back by Don Pablo, he would never have allowed the monkeys to get quietly out of the zamang for it being an isolated tree, it would have afforded him a capital opportunity of "treeing" them.
Only part of it could be seen; the hinder half and the tail were hidden among the bromelias and vines that in huge masses clustered around the trunk of the zamang, and the head was among the leaflets of the mimosa; but what they saw was enough to convince them that it was a snake of the largest size the great "water boa" the anaconda!
We shall see the giant "ceiba" tree, and the "zamang," and the "caoba," twined by huge parasites almost as thick as their own trunks, and looking as though they embraced but to crush them; the "juvia," with its globe-shaped fruits as large as the human head; the "cow-tree," with its abundant fountains of rich milk; the "seringa," with its valuable gum the caoutchouc of commerce; the "cinchona," with its fever-killing bark; the curious "volador," with its winged seeds; the wild indigo, and the arnatto.
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