by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER L.
THE CLOSING CHAPTER.
After many days of difficult navigation the balza floated upon the broadand mighty Amazon, whose yellowish-olive flood flowed yet fifteenhundred miles farther to the Atlantic Ocean.
The current was in most places over four miles an hour, and thenavigation smooth and easy--so that our travellers rarely made less thanfifty miles a-day. There was considerable monotony in the landscape, onaccount of the absence of mountains, as the Amazon, through most of itscourse, runs through a level plain. The numerous bends and suddenwindings of the stream, however, continually opening out into new andcharming vistas, and the ever-changing variety of vegetation, formedsources of delight to the travellers.
Almost every day they passed the mouth of some tributary river--many ofthese appearing as large as the Amazon itself. Our travellers werestruck with a peculiarity in relation to these rivers--that is, theirvariety of colour. Some were whitish, with a tinge of olive, like theAmazon itself; others were blue and transparent; while a third kind hadwaters as black as ink. Of the latter class is the great river of theRio Negro--which by means of a tributary (the Cassiquiare) joins theAmazon with the Orinoco.
Indeed, the rivers of the Amazon valley have been classed into _white_,_blue_, and _black_. _Red_ rivers, such as are common in the northerndivision of the American continent, do not exist in the valley of theAmazon.
There appears to be no other explanation for this difference in thecolour of rivers, except by supposing that they take their hue from thenature of the soil through which these channels run.
But the _white_ rivers, as the Amazon itself, do not appear to be ofthis hue merely because they are "muddy." On the contrary, they derivetheir colour, or most of it, from some impalpable substance held in astate of irreducible solution. This is proved from the fact, that evenwhen these waters enter a reservoir, and the earthy matter is allowed tosettle, they still retain the same tinge of yellowish olive. There aresome white rivers, as the Rio Branco, whose waters are almost as whiteas milk itself!
The _blue_ rivers of the Amazon valley are those with clear transparentwaters, and the courses of these lie through rocky countries where thereis little or no alluvium to render them turbid.
The _black_ streams are the most remarkable of all. These, when deep,look like rivers of ink; and when the bottom can be seen, which isusually a sandy one, the sand has the appearance of gold. Even whenlifted in a vessel, the water retains its inky tinge, and resembles thatwhich may be found in the pools of peat-bogs. It is a generalsupposition in South America that the black-water rivers get theircolour from the extract of sarsaparilla roots growing on their banks. Itis possible the sarsaparilla roots may have something to do with it, incommon with both the roots and leaves of many other vegetables. No otherexplanation has yet been found to account for the dark colour of theserivers, except the decay of vegetable substances carried in theircurrent; and it is a fact that all the black-water streams run throughthe most thickly wooded regions.
A curious fact may be mentioned of the black rivers; that is, thatmosquitoes--the plague of tropical America--are not found on theirbanks. This is not only a curious, but an important fact, and might besufficient to determine any one on the choice of a settlement. You maydeem a mosquito a very small thing, and its presence a triflingannoyance. Let me tell you that settlements have been broken up anddeserted on account of the persecution experienced from these littleinsects! They are the real "wild beasts" of South America, far more tobe dreaded than pumas, or crocodiles, or snakes, or even the fiercejaguar himself.
Day after day our travellers kept on their course, meeting with manyincidents and adventures--too many to be recorded in this little volume.After passing the mouth of the Rio Negro, they began to get a peep nowand then of high land, and even mountains, in the distance; for thevalley of the Amazon, on approaching its mouth, assumes a differentcharacter from what it has farther up-stream. These mountains bendtowards it both from the Brazilian country on the south, and from Guianaon the north, and these are often visible from the bosom of the streamitself.
It was about a month from their entering the main stream of the Amazon,and a little more than two from the first launching of their vessel,when the balza was brought alongside the wharf of Grand Para, and DonPablo and his party stepped on shore at this Brazilian town. Here, ofcourse, Don Pablo was a free man--free to go where he pleased--free todispose of his cargo as he thought best. But he did _not_ dispose of itat Grand Para.
A better plan presented itself. He was enabled to freight part of avessel starting for New York, and thither he went, taking his family andcargo along with him. In New York he obtained a large price for hisbark, roots, and beans; in fact, when all were disposed of, he foundhimself nearly twenty thousand dollars to the good. With this to liveupon, he determined to remain in the great Republic of the North untilsuch time as his own dear Peru might be freed from the Spanishoppressor.
Ten years was the period of his exile. At the end of that time theSpanish-American provinces struck almost simultaneously for liberty; andin the ten years' struggle that followed, not only Don Pablo, butLeon--now a young man--bore a conspicuous part. Both fought by the sideof Bolivar at the great battle of Junin, which crowned the patriot armywith victory.
At the close of the War of Independence, Don Pablo was a general ofdivision, while Leon had reached the grade of a colonel. But as soon asthe fighting was over, both resigned their military rank, as they weremen who did not believe in soldiering as a _mere profession_. In fact,they regarded it as an unbecoming profession in time of peace, and inthis view _I_ quite agree with them.
Don Pablo returned to his studies; but Leon organised an expedition of_cascarilleros_, and returned to the Montana, where for many years heemployed himself in "bark-hunting." Through this he became one of therichest of Peruvian "ricos."
Guapo, who at this time did not look a year older than when firstintroduced, was as tough and sinewy as ever, and was at the head of thecascarilleros; and many a _coceada_ did Guapo afterwards enjoy with hismountain friend the "vaquero" while passing backward and forward betweenCuzco and the Montana.
Dona Isidora lived for a long period an ornament to her sex, and thelittle Leona had _her_ day as the "belle of Cuzco."
But Leon and Leona both got married at length; and were you to visitCuzco at the present time, you might see several little Leons andLeonas, with round black eyes, and dark waving hair--all of themdescendants from our family of--
"FOREST EXILES."
THE BUSH-BOYS,
OR
ADVENTURES IN THE WILDS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA.