UC-NRLF mam B llSt .L THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID PICTURES OF TRAVEL FAR-OFF LANDS: Jl Companion to the S E A > f SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN 1. Cape Horn. 2. Cape St. Roque. 3. Cape Si. Augustii: 4. CapeBlunco. 6. The Orinoco. 7. The Rto de la Plata. 8. The Rio Negro. 9. The Santa Cruz. 10. Valparaiso. 12. Buenos Ayres. 13. Monte Video. 14. Rio de Janeiro. 15. Para. 16. Minas Geraes. 18. Quito. 19. Santa Ke de Bogota, 20. Carthagena. 21. Portobello. 22. Panama. PICTURES OF TRAVEL IN FAR-OFF LANDS. CHAPTER I. TERRA DEL FUEGO. General Description of the New World. Terra del Fuego Cape Horn Climate Plants and Animals People Story of the Martyrs of Fuegia> THE Continent of the New World consists of two great peninsulas, joined by a long narrow isth- mus. It is 9000 miles long, extending from within the Arctic nearly to the Antarctic Circle. It is divided by nature into three parts South, Cen- tral, and North America and these three are con- nected by a mighty chain of mountains, called the Andes in South and Central America, and known as the Rocky Mountains in the North. It might seem almost as if the crust of the globe had been thinner, or had cracked and burst nearly in a line from north to south, and through this the mighty Andes had arisen, thrown up by the subterranean fires still burning so fiercely below them ever and anon bursting forth afresh, and causing the earth to 14 PHYSICAL VIEW OF THE CONTINENT. tremble and the hills to shake. And while the base of the mountains is thus plunged in the burn- ing depths, their tops, often rising above the clouds, are covered with perpetual snow, while between every variety of climate may be found, according to the height to which you ascend. " The greatest length of South America, from Cape Horn to the Isthmus of Panama, is about 4020 geographical miles. It is very narrow at its southern extremity, but increases in width north- wards to the latitude of Cape San Roque, on the Atlantic; between which and Cape Blanco, on the Pacific, it attains its greatest breadth, of nearly 2750 miles. It consists of three mountain systems, separated by the basins of three of the greatest rivers in the world the Orinoco, 1600 miles long; the Amazon or Maranon, about 4000 miles long; and the Rio de la Plata, 2700 miles long. " The great chain of the Andes first raises its crest above the waves of the Antarctic Ocean, in the majestic, sombre mass of Cape Horn, the south- ernmost point of the archipelago of Terra del Fuego. This group of mountainous islands, equal in size to Great Britain, is separated from the main- land by the Strait of Magellan. The islands are pene- trated in every direction by bays and narrow inlets of the sea, or fiords, ending often in glaciers fed by the snow on the summits of mountains 6000 feet high. " From Cape Horn, the Andes runs along the western coast to the Isthmus of Panama, in a single chain of inconsiderable width, but majestic height, dipping rapidly to the narrow plains on the Pacific, but descending on the east by huge spires, or off- TERRA DEL FUEGO. 15 sets, and deep valleys, to plains of vast extent, whose level is for hundreds of miles as unbroken as that of the ocean by which they are bounded. Nevertheless, two detached mountain systems rise from these plains one in Brazil, between the Rio de la Plata and the river Amazon ; the other, that of Parima and Guiana, between the river Amazon and the Orinoco."* There are three great tracts of low lands in South America, known by the names of the Pampas, an Indian term, signifying flats, mostly treeless plains in the south, and covered with woods, swamps, and grassy fields in the north; the Selvas, or forest plains of the Amazon; and the Llanos, or level fields, chiefly covered with luxuriant grass. These plains and their inhabitants will be more minutely described in the course of the following chapters. TERRA DEL FUEGO. The outline of South America may be compared to a paper kite; and, like a kite, there is attached to its apex a jointed tail, of which Fuegia and the South Shetlands are the only fragments seen above water in other words, the mighty wall of the Andes is broken through by the sea, and the inun- dated valley forms the Strait of Magellan; and after a feeble re-appearance in the Fuegian archi- pelago, the Cordillera is lost in the ocean. As seen on a school-room map, this Terra del Fuego is a dim islet, deriving its chief importance from its famous headland, Cape Horn. On a nearer * From "Memoir of Richard Williams," by Re*. Dr. Hamilton. 16 TERRA DEL FUEGO. inspection, however, this nebulous patch resolves into a cluster of islands, one very large, with a crow(J of smaller attendants to the west and south ; and, far from the mainland, stands the kerbstone of the New World Cape Horn, with his surf-beaten pyramid. CAPE HORN. Though only the fag-end of America a mere caudal vertebra of the Andes if we had it in Europe, Terra del Fuego would be a country of some consideration. Its second-rate islands are larger than the Isle of Wight or the Isle of Man, TERRA DEL FUEGO. 17 and the surface of its mainland is equal to the Lowlands of Scotland. Its climate, however, renders it one of the most dreary and inhospitable regions on the face of the globe. In a latitude corresponding to Edinburgh, the sky seldom clears, and the rainy squalls of the summer are the only relief from the sleet and snow of the winter. A calm sunshine is a great rarity. If we imagined the mountains of the Hebrides rising to a height of six or seven thousand feet, with glaciers coming down to the sea, and a warm tide constantly flowing at their base ; and if, moreover, we could bring the north Polar ice into as low a latitude as the Ant- arctic ice descends, our own Western Isles would be the counterpart of Fuegia. The range between the extremes of heat and cold is small; and this comparative equability, along with the abundant moisture, is favourable to certain forms of vegetable life. In most districts of Britain, the fuchsia is a conservatory plant; but in Devon- shire and the Isle of Bute it grows luxuriantly in the open air, and in winter wants no shelter. Fuegia is one of its native lands ; and there, along with its equally delicate companion, Veronica decus- sata, it becomes a tree with a trunk half a foot in diameter. The potato is indigenous on the adjacent mainland, although we do not know that it has been found in these islands where celery, a kind of currant, the berry of an arbutus, and a fungus, are the only esculents. The characteristic vegetation is two sorts of beech-trees. One of these (Fagus betu- loides) is an evergreen; the other (Fagus Antarctica} is deciduous. The latter species is more hardy, (289) 2 18 ITS VARIOUS INHABITANTS. and can scale the mountain sides to a higher plat- form than its glossy-green companion; so that in winter a zone of leafless trees is seen at a lofty elevation, succeeding to the verdure of the forest. Except where discouraged by the thin, granitic soil, these beeches occur everywhere; and except when stunted by the winds, they attain a goodly size; and one trunk is mentioned seven feet in diameter. Land animals are few; even insects are rare; the gloomy woods are inhabited by few birds. The most important quadruped is the guanaco, or llama, that useful compromise between the sheep and the camel, so characteristic of the South American mountains. It is found on Navarin island, and on the main island, or Terra del Fuego proper. Two species of fox, and a few mice and bats, complete the list of the land animals. But the waters largely compensate for the life- lessness of the land. Seaweeds of gigantic size feed and shelter a great variety of molluscs and crus~ taceans. Shoals of fishes frequent the shore, and in the wake of the fishes come armies of seals and clouds of sea fowl. The inhabitants of the Fuegian archipelago are closely allied to their neighbours the Patagonians, but are both intellectually and physically inferior to them. Their colour is something between dark copper and brown ; Captain Fitzroy compares it to very old mahogany. But owing to the wood smoke with which they are saturated, the oil and blubber with which they are smeared, and the earth white, red, and black with which they are painted, it is difficult to ascertain a Fuegian complexion. Their A SAVAGE LIFE. bodies and heads are large, their legs are crooked and stunted, their clothing is scanty, and nothing can be more wretched than their habitations. They live chiefly on fish and sea-fowl, when they can catch them; but for a great period of every year these poor islanders are entirely dependent on mussels, limpets, and similar shell-fish. Like most savages, the life of a Fuegian is an alternation of occasional feasts, with long intervals of famine. In 20 A FEROCIOUS FATHER. the desperation of hunger, it is fearful to think of the expedients to which he is occasionally driven. There can be no doubt that these Indians are can- nibals, and that when other subsistence fails, they kill and devour their old women before they kill their dogs. Those who fall in battle are in like manner devoured by the victors. Degraded as the savages are, traces of gentleness and tenderness may be found among the women, but the mercies of the men are cruel. The men are surly tyrants, the women are laborious slaves. An incident, related by Commodore Byron, shows their almost incredible ferocity : " Our cacique and his wife had gone off in their canoe, when she dived for sea-eggs; but not meet- ing with great success, they returned a good deal out of humour. A little boy of" theirs, about three years old, whom they appeared to be doatingly fond of, watching for his father and mother's return, ran into the surf to meet them ; the father handed a basket of sea- eggs to the child, which being too heavy for him to carry, he let it fall; upon which the father jumped out of the canoe, and catching the boy up in his arms, dashed him with the utmost violence against the stones. The poor little crea- ture lay motionless and bleeding, and in that condi- tion was taken up by the mother; but died soon after. She appeared inconsolable for some time; but the brute, his father, showed little concern about it." Embruted as are these savages, they are not sunk beyond recovery. Through the mercy of our God, there is at this moment on the earth a power well able to cure the worst woes of Fuegia. THE MARTYRS OF FUEOIA. 21 THE MARTYRS OF FUEGIA. Captain Gardiner, a Christian officer in the British navy, became deeply interested in the intro- duction of the gospel among the South American Indians. He found that little good could be done in the north, as the people were on every side so hemmed in by Spanish Popery. However, the regions in the south appeared more practi- cable. There were no Romish priests in Patagonia. Far away as Fuegia was, and few as were its hungry barbarians, he could plead their relative importance. Guiana excepted, of all that mighty continent, no other spot was accessible to Protestant missions. It was the Gibraltar of the South Pacific, and it was of no small consequence to our mariners, to people with friendly occupants the Straits of Magellan, and the coasts in the rear of Cape Horn. Above all, it was the only avenue at- tainable to the vast tribes of the interior, the ten- ants of the Andes, and the fierce nomads of the Pampas ; and as Popery had closed the main gates against the gospel, it was of paramount urgency to seize and keep open this postern. After many fruit- less attempts, the efforts of the earnest and heroic Captain Gardiner were at last successful in organis- ing a mission. Accompanied by Mr. Williams and Mr. Maid- ment, catechists, a ship carpenter, and three young seamen from Cornwall, he embarked in September 1850, on board a vessel named the " Ocean Queen," bound for San Francisco, California, which, on the 5th December of the same year, landed the little 22 GARDINER'S MISFORTUNES. party on one of the islands of the Terra del Fuegian archipelago. They had taken with them two launches, twenty-six feet long, the one to be used as a floating mission-house, the other as a store ship and magazine, with two small boats as tenders, as Captain Gardiner's plan was to follow from island to island the migrations of the restless inhabitants, and also that in case the natives should prove un- friendly, the missionaries might be able to take shelter in their boats. On the 19th of December the *' Ocean Queen " sailed on her voyage, leaving the small party alone. A train of disasters soon overtook Gardiner and his companions. The launches were found unfit for the navigation of these stormy seas, and soon became leaky. The small boats and an anchor were lost; their gunpowder had been left in the " Ocean Queen." The natives, too, gave them great annoyance, being kept in good humour only by presents; and when these were refused, they seized every opportunity of purloining the mission property. One of their boats became a wreck, having been driven on the rocks. The party in this boat then took to a cavern ; but finding it damp, and the tide washing into it, they hauled the wreck of the " Pioneer " (so the boat was named) on the beach, and, covering her with a tent, made a dor- mitory of her. Their health suffered from their continued hardships; their provisions began to fail; they were weakened both by disease and famine. Winter weather came on ; snow fell day after day, covering all around with its white mantle, accom* panied by fearful storms of wind. They tried in GARDINER'S MISFORTUNES. 23 vain to catch fish, none were to be seen ; and the provisions they had brought with them were fast consuming away. Yet, amid all these outward hardships, their faith and patience failed not, and they enjoyed peace through the sustaining power of divine grace. Some extracts from their journals may give an idea of what their sufferings were, and how patiently these were borne : " On Friday, May 2d, the captain and Mr. Maid- ment succeeded in catching a fox, or rather in killing him. He had frequently paid them visits during the night, entering the cavern whilst they were in bed in the boat, and making free with whatever came to hand. He had carried off pieces of pork, shoes, and even books ; and, to the great mortifi- cation of Mr. Maidment, his Bible was among the latter, which, being bound in morocco, was doubt- less a booty to the hungry beast. They therefore laid a bait for him, a piece of pork attached by a cord to the trigger of a loaded gun, so placed that when he took the bait he should fire the gun. He fired it off once, but escaped unhurt ; twice the cap went off, but the powder did not take fire. At last he received the whole discharge in his breast. In his stomach were found feathers, fish, and mice. He was a fine animal, with a splendid brush. Albeit the odium attached to a fox, our party on shore have already so far overcome any fastidious- ness, that this morning they made a hearty break- fast of his ' pluck.' His quarters were cut up, and kept in reserve. This is not the first extraordinary bonne louche our worthy caterer has put upon the 24 THE HOPE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. spit, or made into soup for us. The penguin and shag, and the equally fishy-tasted duck, have all contributed their quota. The penguin was caught on shore, without attempting to get away, more than by a backward movement, as Mr. Maidment laid hold on him. The shag was asleep on a fallen tree lying on the beach, so that Mr. M. caught it also by hand. "The most formidable drawback of all is the dampness of the boat. Although I have my Mac- kintosh spread over my bed, the water from the roof lodges in pools upon it, and has at length saturated the counterpane under it. The side of our beds, and all our clothes there, as well as at the head and the foot, are all wringing wet." In the midst of sufferings such as these, from cold and wet, sickness, disease, and famine, the noble little band were still patient and resigned. On the 7th of May (eight months after they had left Liver- pool) Mr. Williams thus writes : " Should anything prevent my ever adding to this, let my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy beyond expression the night I wrote these lines, and would not have changed situations with any man living. . . . The hope laid up for me in heaven filled my whole heart with joy and gladness. To me to live is Christ, to die is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two, to abide in the body, or to de- part and be with Christ, which is far better. Let them know that I loved them, and prayed for every one of them. God bless them all." u May 20. I am now, as it were, suspended by a slender thread betwixt life arid death. Three THE HOPE OF THE RIGHTEOUS 25 days following I have had attacks which seemed to threaten a termination in dissolution. But God is with me. I am happy in the love of Christ. I could not choose, were it left to me, whether to die or to live." " May 27. To-day I have perceived new symp- toms which show the inroads of the disease upon my system, and strongly point out a fatal termina- tion. Can I be in any way disappointed at this, instead of a life of much service and glory to God ? No, not for a moment ; for God's glory can only be enhanced by fulfilling the counsels of his own will ; and to suffer his blessed will as much glorifies my God as to do it. I am not disappointed; rather do I rejoice greatly that now it seems manifestly the design of God to take me hence. . . . Should this, then, be the will of God, then, my beloved ones, weep not for me. Let no mourning thought pos- sess your hearts, nor sigh of sadness once escape your lips. Say rejoicingly, How good was the Lord ! How greatly was he blessed of God ; and he is gone to be with Jesus ! " Frequent mention is made in their journals of the tide washing into the cavern, carrying away their stores, and endangering their sleeping boat. This they endeavoured to counteract by building break- waters of stones ; but these were often washed away by the surf in the night. On one occasion Captain Gardiner and Mr. Maidment were obliged to escape from the cavern to save their lives ; and taking refuge on a rock washed by the surf, they knelt down in prayer. Early in June, their fishing-net had been swept away, which lessened their means of procuring food. 26 NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE. On the 28th of June, Captain Gardiner says: " Found Mr. Williams and Badcock to-day very ill Mr. W. considers the latter beyond the hope of recovery. He is most patient, leaning only upon his God. . . . Mr. Williams was praying aloud, when I reached the boat, for himself and his dying companions, committing themselves to God, and rejoicing in his faithfulness and truth." At eleven o'clock on that same evening, John Badcock died. He requested Mr. Williams to join him in singing a hymn. He sang it through with a loud voice, and, a few minutes afterwards, expired. His companions buried him on a bank under the trees at Cook's river ; and, after the sad funeral, they retired to their boat for prayers. On the 4th of July, after having been for seven weeks on short allowance, their small rations were still more diminished. Everything in the shape of food was eagerly eaten, even a half-devoured fish washed up on the shore. Captain Gardiner writes : " We have now remaining half a duck, about one pound of salt pork, the same quantity of damaged tea, a very little rice (a pint), two cakes of chocolate, four pints of pease, to which I may add six mice. The mention of this last item in our list of provisions may startle some of our friends should it ever reach their ears ; but circumstanced as we are, we partake of them with a relish, and have already eaten several of them; they are very tender, and taste like a rabbit." July 22. They were reduced to living on mus- sels, and the cravings of hunger were painfully felt. Captain Gardiner says : " After living on mussels A MISERABLE COMPANY. 27 for a fortnight, I was compelled to give them up, and my food is now mussel broth and the soft part of limpets." July 28. Captain Gardiner writes of the party in the other boat : " They are all extremely weak and helpless. Even their garden-seeds used for broths are now all out." August 14. Captain Gardiner is quite exhausted, and obliged to take to bed; but a rock- weed is discovered, which they boil to a jelly, and find nourishing. August 23. John Irwin died; three days after, John Bryant died also, and Mr. Maidment buried them both in one grave ; and John Pearce, the remaining boatman, was so much grieved at the loss of his comrades, that his mind became wandering. From Captain Gardiner's Journal, dated Wednes- day, 3d September, the following is extracted : " Mr. Maidment returned (from burying his two companions) perfectly exhausted. The day also was bad, snow, sleet, and rain. He has never since recruited from that day's bodily and mental exertion. Wishing, if possible, to spare him the trouble of attending on me, and for the mutual com- fort of all, I purposed, if practicable, to go to the river and take up my quarters in the boat. This was attempted on Sunday last. Feeling that with- out crutches I could not possibly effect it, Mr. Maid- ment most kindly cut me a pair (two forked sticks) ; but it was with no slight exertion and fatigue in his weak state. We set out together; but soon found that I had no strength to proceed, and was obliged to return before reaching the brook over our own 28 A MISERABLE COMPANY. beach. Mr. Maidment was so exhausted yesterday, that he did not rise from his bed until noon, and I have not seen him since; consequently, I tasted nothing yesterday. I cannot leave the place where I am, and know not whether he is in the body, or enjoying the presence of the gracious God whom he has served so faithfully. I am writing this at ten o'clock in the forenoon. Blessed be my heavenly Father for the many mercies I enjoy, a comfort- able bed, no pain, nor even cravings of hunger, though excessively weak, scarcely able to turn in my bed at least it is a very great exertion ; but I am, by his abounding grace, kept in perfect peace, refreshed with a sense of my Saviour's love, and an assurance that all is wisely and mercifully appointed, and pray that I may receive the full blessing which it is doubtless designed to bestow. My care is all cast upon God ; and I am only waiting his time and his good pleasure to dispose of me as he shall see fit. Whether I live or die, may it be in him. I commend my body and soul into his care and keep- ing; and earnestly pray that he will mercifully take my dear wife and children under the shadow of his wings, comfort, guide, strengthen, and sanctify them wholly, that we may together, in a brighter and eternal world, praise and adore his good- ness and grace in redeeming us with his precious blood, and plucking us as brands from the burn- ing, to bestow upon us the adoption of children, and make us inheritors of his heavenly kingdom. Amen. " Thursday, September 4. There is now no room to doubt that my dear fellow-labourer has ceased LAST ENTRIES IN THE JOURNAL. 29 from his earthly toils, and joined the company of the redeemed in the presence of the Lord, whom he served so faithfully. Under these circumstances, it was a merciful Providence that he left the boat, as I could not have removed the body. He had left a little peppermint-water, which he had mixed, and it has been a great comfort to me ; but there was no other drink. Fearing I might suffer from thirst, I prayed that the Lord would strengthen me to pro- cure some water. He graciously answered my peti- tion ; and yesterday I was enabled to get out, and scoop up a sufficient supply from some that trickled down the stern of the boat, by means of one of my India-rubber overshoes. What combined mercies am I receiving at the hands of my heavenly Father 1 Blessed be his holy name ! " Friday, September 5. Great and marvellous are the loving-kindnesses of my gracious God unto me. He has preserved me hitherto, and. for four days, although without bodily food, without any feeling of hunger or thirst." The last remarks are not written so plainly as the previous day ; yet they were not the last, for another paper, addressed to Mr. "Williams by Captain Gar- diner, was found, written in pencil, the whole being very indistinct, and some parts nearly obliterated, but nearly as follows : " Mr DEAR MR. WILLIAMS, " The Lord has seen fit to call home another of our little company. Our dear departed brother left the boat on Tuesday afternoon, and has not yet returned. Doubtless he is in the presence 30 PAINFUL VESTIGES. of his Redeemer, whom he served faithfully. Yet a little while, and though .... the Almighty to sing the praises .... throne. I neither hunger nor thirst, though .... days without food Maidment's kindness to me .... heaven. " Your affectionate brother in .... " ALLEN F. GARDINER. "September^, 1851." Meantime the sufferers were not forgotten. Their friends in England had been for some time vainly trying to get a vessel to convey stores to them, although far from aware of the extreme necessity of the case, as they hoped that fish and game might have furnished them with abundant supplies. At length, on the 21st of October, a pilot-boat, sent by Samuel Lafone, Esq., of Monte Video, reached Banner Cove, and finding the words painted on the rocks, " Gone to Spaniard Harbour," proceeded thither. They found a boat on the beach, and in- side of it lay one person dead. There was a large scar on his head, and another on his neck ; and a mattress was thrown over him. The name " Pearce" was found on his frock ; and there can be little doubt that he was the last survivor of the party. The Indians, whose naked footprints were observed on the strand, had no doubt found him still alive, and had murdered him ; and books, papers, medicine everything which was of no value to the savages were found scattered on the deck, or strewn along the beach. On the shore was found a body com- pletely washed to pieces, which must have been that of Mr. Williams, as his three companions had been already buried. Captain Smyley (the commander THE LAST RITES PERFORMED. 31 of the pilot-boat) had barely time to bury it, when a violent gale arose, and drove him from his anchor- age and out to sea. His little vessel being laden with the crew of a castaway Danish bark, Cap- tain Smyley could prosecute the search no further, but was forced to return to Monte Video. Unapprised of Captain Smyley's discovery, Cap- tain Morshead, in H.M.S. Dido, reached these dan- gerous seas about the middle of January 1852. He had received instructions to touch at Picton Island, and inquire after the missionaries; and he prosecuted the search with the skill and energy of a British sailor, and with the solicitude of a Christian friend. He reached Spaniard Harbour on the evening of 21st January, and immediately sent Lieutenant Pigott and Mr. Roberts on shore. They found the bodies of Captain Gardiner and Mr. Maidment, and returned to the ship with a variety of books and papers. Next morning, amidst threatening weather, Captain Morshead landed. Mr. Maidment's body lay in the cavern where he had so often spent the night, and in which the stores rescued from the Pioneer were kept. Outside, on the rocks, was painted, by way of direction to any visitor, a hand, and under it, " Psalm Ixii. 5-8." Captain Gardi- ner's body was found lying beside the wreck of the Pioneer. It seemed that he had left his berth, but, being too weak to climb into it again, he had died at the side of the boat. The remains were collected and buried, the funeral service was read, an inscrip- tion was placed on the rocks, three volleys of mus- ketry were fired, the ship's colours were struck half-mast high, and, having fulfilled her mournful commission, the Dido went on her way. 32 A " FLOATING MONUMENT." May we not say of Captain Gardiner, as it was said of Abel, "he being dead yet speaketh" (Heb. xi. 4). Many lessons are taught us by the devotion and self-sacrifice of these noble martyrs of Fuegia. We see that in the most desolate situation the Christian need not fear, for the heavenly Comforter can inspire him with "joy unspeakable and full of glory," even in circumstances the most forlorn. But besides their lesson of self-devotion, have not these good confessors left to the Church a legacy of duty? Have not their writings, so remarkably pre- served, come back from the ends of the earth, as a cry to go over and help these poor degraded Indians? This cry has not been unheard. Again a valiant band of Christian soldiers have gone forth prepared for the battle-field of these savage lands. The Patagonian Mission has been revived, and is now established on a firmer basis, and with fairer pros- pects, than ever. Captain Gardiner's suggestion of a mission ship has been adopted, and the " Allen Gardiner," with a mission family on board, is now his floating monument among those islands, the wel- fare of whose inhabitants lay so near his heart. His only son, Allen Gardiner, Esq., B.A. of Oxford, has accompanied the mission party as catechist, to aid in carrying out his father's plans. Captain Gardiner has not lived in vain, neither died in vain, although we may not see the immediate fruits of his labours. Til K LAND OF FIRE. 33 "THE LAND OF FIRE."* Far, far away, Over ocean's spray, Where the billows roll, By the icy Pole, Lies the "Land of Fire!" What strange forms appear Hitting here and there Man! this is no other Than thy heathen brother In the "Land of Fire!" Wl.at so cold is known As man's heart of stone, Ere one beam from heaven Warmth and li^ht have given, Kindling Sacred Fire I Though his heart be frozen, He whom God hath chosen, He the ice can melt- Thousands this have felt With His Word of Fire 1 Take that blessed Word, Speak of Christ your Lord; His all-powerful name, Everywhere the same, Warms with heavenly Fire! Not a moment burning, 'Ihc-n to gloom returning; Light that comes from Jesus, burns when all else freezes 'Tis a quenchless Fire ! From the " Voice of Pity." * Tierra del Fuego signifies "The Land of Fire. 1 (289) CHAPTER II. PATAGONIA. Extent Climate Animals People Savage Life Mode of Hunting Marriage among the Eatagonians Adventures of Mr. Bourne, or " Life among the Giants." THE name of Patagonia has been given to the vast country which occupies the southern extremity of South America. It is about four times the size of Great Britain. The western part is traversed by the Andes; the eastern part is, for "800 miles, a desert of shingle, occasionally diversified by huge boulders, tufts of brown grass, low bushes armed with thorns, salt lakes and saline incrustations, as white as snow, and by black basaltic platforms, like plains of iron, at the foot of the Andes, barren as the rest." Eastern Patagonia is not, however, one universal flat, but a succession of shingly plains, rising in long low terraces to the foot of the Andes, here and there intersected at long distances by a ravine or a stream. Coarse wiry grass grows luxu- riantly in the valleys; low thorny bushes, and under- wood, are tolerably abundant; but nothing is to be seen in the plains worthy the name of a tree. They are bleak, barren, and desolate beyond description. A DARREN REGION. 35 The climate is cold and severe; the icy winds from the Andes, or from the Pole, sweep over these inhospitable plains during the greater part of every year; yet the heat during the short summer is intense. The greatest misfortune of these regions is want of water. There are very few streams. Rain falls only in small quantity, and at rare intervals. The natives draw their supplies principally from springs or pools in the valleys, the water of which is gene- rally brackish and disagreeable. There are as few animals as plants. The guanaco, 36 THE PATAGONIANS. a quadruped allied to the llama, is found in con- siderable numbers. It is larger than the red deer, very fleet, and is usually found in large herds. The guanaco furnishes most of the food of the Pata- gonians, and all their clothing. The skin also forms their tents, bridles, &c. The enemy of the guanaco is the cougar, or American lion, a small but ferocious creature. He is followed in the air by the hungry vulture, or condor of the Andes, which can scent a dead or dying animal from a great distance, and darts with the rapidity of lightning on the broken remains of the lion's feast. Another remarkable bird, which roams over the Patagonian plains, is the cassowary, a species of ostrich smaller than that of Africa. Like the lion, it is smaller than its African namesake. Its flesh is tender and good, and is much prized by the Indians. It is exceedingly swift, often fleet enough to outstrip a good horse. The inhabitants of Patagonia are savage Indians, so gigantic as to excite the wonder of the first travellers who saw them. Their height was ex- aggerated by report till they were magnified into giants, which is rather beyond the truth. They are, however, really of great stature ; their average height is said, by Mr. Bourne (who lived long among them), to be about six feet and a half; and he saw several of them seven feet high. They wear large mantles of guanaco skins, sewed together with the sinews of the ostrich ; and these fitting closely at the neck, and fulling round them to below the knee, serve to increase their apparent height. Their long, thick, coarse hair hangs over their THK PATAGONIANS. 37 shoulders and back, giving them a wild fierce look. They have large heads, high cheek-bones, and their dark skins are usually painted with a motley mixture of colours, red, black, and white, in lines which cross the forehead in ail directions, with white circles round the eyes. w ,- j 3 CASSOWARY, OR AMERICAN OSTRICH. They lead a wandering and wretched life; often suffering from hunger, dirty to a revolting degree, and actually gnawed by vermin. They eat any kind of meat they can get, but they prefer the flesh of the horse. The women are treated as slaves, as is the case among all savages; and, of course, they 38 EMBELLISHING NATURE. A GROUP OF PATAGONIANS. are degraded beings, although they possess the only virtue ever heard of in connection with these wild tribes, they bear ill-treatment meekly. They are not beautiful by nature, and make themselves still more hideous by bedaubing themselves with a mix- ture of clay, blood, and grease. Their dwellings are huts or tents made of the A FAMOUS HUNTING-GROUND. 39 skin of the guanaco, and are open on the east In the interior, nothing is to be seen except the skins on which they sleep, and their arms. The principal of these is the bolas, a missile weapon used in the capture of all kinds of game. This consists of two round stones, or lead balls, if they can be procured, weighing each about a pound, con- nected by a strap, or thong of leather, ten or twelve feet long. When engaged in the chase his horse at the highest speed the rider holds one ball in his hand, and whirls the other rapidly above his head; wla-ii it has acquired sufficient momentum, it is hurled with unerring aim at the object of pursuit, and either strikes the victim dead, or coils inextri- cably about him, and roots him to the spot, a help- less mark for the hunter's knife. The hunting of the guanaco is not only the chief reliance for food of the native tribes, but is a >pirit-d amusement, conducted after a fashion peculiar alike to hunters and hunted. Patagonia, as before men- tioned, has no trees, but is covered here and there in patches, with a kind of underbrush of scrub growth; and the plains extend back for hundreds of miles from the Atlantic shore, like a vast rolling prairie. This affords a clear and excellent hunting- ground, with nothing to conceal the game, or hinder the pursuer, except now and then a clump of low bushes, or the tall grass of the marshes. Two to four hundred Indians, on horseback, bare-headed, and with their skin mantles about them 1 , and each having the bolas and his long knife tucked beneath his belt, the whole followed by an innumerable pack of dogs of every kind, down to curs of low 40 HUNTING THE GUANACO. degree, make up a hunting party; as far as the eye can reach, their gigantic forms diminished by the distance, may be seen, projected on the horizon, their long hair streaming in the wind. Presently a thickness is perceived in the air, and a cloud of dust arises a sure indication that a herd of guanacos has been beaten up, and is now approaching. All eyes are fixed intently on the cloud; it soon appeal's as if several acres of earth were alive, and in rapid motion. There is a herd of from five hundred to a thousand of these animals, infuriated, rushing for- ward at their utmost speed ; whatever direction they may chance to take, they follow in a straight line, and as soon as their course is ascertained, the Indians may be seen running their horses at break- neck pace, to plant themselves directly in the course of the living tide. As the game approach, the hunter puts spurs to his horse and rushes across their track. When within twenty or thirty yards, he jerks the bolas from his girdle, and whirling it violently above his head, lets fly. The weapon usually strikes the head or neck of the animal, and winds itself about his fore-legs, bringing him to the ground. The hunter dismounts, cuts the victim's throat, remounts, and is again in pursuit. The whizzing missile, unerring in its aim, brings down another and another, till the party are satisfied with their chase and their prey. The dogs fall upon the poor animals, when helplessly entangled by the bolas, and* often cruelly mangle them before the hunter has time to despatch them. Seldom does any one miss the game he marks. It is the height of manly ambition among them the last result of A CERTIFICATE OF RANK. -11 The sport being over, then comes the dressing of the meat. The body is split open, the entrails are removed, the heart and large veins opened, to permit the blood to flow into the cavity. The Indians scoop up with their hands, and eagerly drink the blood. When their thirst is satisfied, the remainder is poured into certain of the intestines selected for the purpose, to become (to their accommodating tastes) a luxury as highly prized as any surnamed of Bologna. The ribs are disjointed from the back- bone, and with the head, are discarded as worthless. The body is quartered, cutting through the skin ; the quarters, tied together in pairs, are thrown across the horses' backs, and conveyed to the camp. Arrived at their wigwams, the chivalrous hunters never unlade their beasts, but lean upon the horses' necks till their wives come out and relieve them of the spoil. They then dismount, unsaddle their horses, and turn them loose. The only wealth of the Patagonians, except their huts, consists of horses, the stock of which is re- plenished by stealing from the Spanish and Chilian settlements. These animals are for the most part of inferior quality, though there are occasionally a few good ones among those which are stolen. There are rich and poor even among these savages; and riches and rank among them consist in being a good thief, and having plenty of horses. Mr. Bourne tells a most amusing story of an Indian who wished to marry the chief's daughter; but the father said : "Indian wants a girl for his wife; poor Indian very poor, got no horses nor anything else. I won't give him the woman." 42 MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE. Mr. Bourne inquired the claims ot the Indian : " What does poor Indian say?" The reply was, " Says he'll steal plenty horses when we get where they are, and give the woman plenty of grease. Says he is a good hunter, good thief." " Plenty of grease " seerns t6 have been a bribe that the chief's daughter could not resist, and her mother pleaded her cause with the old chief, by saying that perhaps the Indian " might who knew ? make a fine thief yet, and possess plenty of horses." The girl and her mother prevailed, after the mother had borne a severe beating in the cause, and the promising thief became the chief's son- in-law. Such is a " marriage in high life " in Pata- gonia. The degraded state of a people, among whom theft is held in honour, may easily be imagined. Mr. Bourne says that " the filth of their persons only too faithfully represents the degree in which ' their mind and conscience is defiled.' " Mind and body seem alike ernbruted. Yet among these savages Mr. Bourne, an Ameri- can, was long a captive a fate so dreadful that we can only wonder he survived to relate his adven- tures, which are told in a most interesting book, entitled, " Life among the Giants," from which we extract the following story: LIFE AMONG THE GIANTS. Soon after the discovery of gold in California, Mr. Bourne, among many others, embarked from TAKEN PRISONER. 43 New Bedford, in the United States, on board a schooner bound for the gold regions. On account of the delays and dangers incident to doubling Cape Horn, the captain determined to attempt the passage of the Straits of Magellan. The vessel was be- calmed off the mouth of the Straits, and a party was sent on shore for fresh provisions under the command of Mr. Bourne, who reluctantly went to oblige the captain. By the treachery of the Indians, Mr. Bourne was separated from his men, and made prisoner. A gale came on, the ships were driven from their anchor- age and carried out to sea, and Mr. Bourne was left alone in the power of his savage captors. His ad- ventures are full of interest. We have space only for two scenes his first repast in a Patagonian hut, and his escape. AN' lien he first enteml a Patagonian hut, he says that he felt " as bacon, if conscious, might be sup- posed to feel in the process of curing. No lapse of time," he continues, " was sufficient to reconcile my eyes, nostrils, and lungs to the nuisance. Often have I been more than half strangled by it, and compelled to lie with my face to the ground as the only endurable position. Talk that is ' worse than a smoky house,' must be something out of date, or Shakspeare's imagination never comprehended any- thing so detestable as a Patagonian hut. The chief and his numerous household, however, seemed to enjoy immense satisfaction ; and jabbered, and grunted, and played their antics, and exchanged grimaces, as complacently as if they breathed a highly exhilarating atmosphere. 44 A PATAGONIAN BANQUET. " My meditations and observations were shortly interrupted by preparations for a meal. My fancy began to conjure up visions of the beef, fowls, and eggs, the promise of which had lured my men from the boat, had proved stronger than the suggestions of prudence, and had made me a prisoner. But these dainties, if they existed anywhere within the old chief's jurisdiction, were just at present reserved. The old hag threw down from the top of one of the stakes that supported the tent the quarter of some animal, whether dog, guanaco, or whatever, was past imagining. She slashed right and left, might and main, with an old copper knife till the meat was divided into several pieces. Then taking a number of crotched sticks about two feet long, and sharpened at all their points, she inserted the forked ends into pieces of the meat, and drove the opposite points into the ground near the fire; which, though sufficient to smoke and comfortably warm the mess, was too feeble to roast it. At all events, time was too precious, or their unsophisticated appetites were too craving, to wait for such an operation ; and the raw morsels were quickly snatched from the smoke, torn into bits by her dirty hands, and thrown upon the ground before us. The Indians seized them with avidity, and tossed a bit to me; but what could I do with it? I should have had no appetite for the dinner of an alderman at such a time and place, but as for tasting meat that came in such a ques- tionable shape, there was no bringing my teeth and resolution to it. While eyeing it with ill-suppressed disgust, I observed the savages, like a horde of half- fnrvcf1 rlnrrci rlpvnnrinrr tlioir rrrfirm vvitli tTiA rrront- " VERY GOOD TO EAT. 45 est relish. The old chief remarked the slight I was putting upon his hospitality, and broke in upon me with a fierce speech in his broken Spanish to this effect: 'Why don't you eat your meat? This meat very good to eat very good to eat. Eat, man eat!' Seeing him so much excited, and not knowing what deeds might follow his words if I refused, I thought it expedient to try to eat. ] forced a morsel into my mouth. Its taste was by no means as offensive as its appearance had been unpromising, and I managed to save appearances with less disgust than I had feared. The eating bring over, a large horn that had once adorned the head of a Spanish bullock was dipped into a leathern bucket and passed from one to another. Between the bucket and the horn, the water had gained a sickening taste; however, it seemed expedient * to conquer my prejudices' so far as to drink with the other guests, and the ceremonies of dinner were over, for which I felt very thankful. Soon after, my painful thoughts were interrupted by an order to prepare for the night's repose. An old skin, about two and a half feet square, was thrown upon the cold ground in the back part of our rookery, and assigned for my couch. I took possession, and the whole family bestowed themselves in a row near me. The stifling atmosphere was soon vocal with their snoring." Such was Mr. Bourne's first day among the savages, and his misery daily increased, his life was constantly in danger, while all attempts to escape proved vain. The Indians had learned a little Spanish, and Mr. Bourne also knew something of 46 ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. the language, and at first he communicated with them partly by means of this and partly by signs; but as he gradually learned to understand something of the native language, he began to promise them all manner of good things, especially rum and to- bacco (the things most highly prized by savages), if they would take him to any place where there were white men. Moved by his bribes, the chief at last promised to take him to " Holland;" and the tribe accordingly set off on a journey northwards. He found that " Holland" was an island near the mouth of the river Santa Cruz. Mr. Bourne sup- poses that " Holland" might perhaps be the native corruption of the word " island." Several Euro- peans were living on the island, engaged in digging guano'. The Indians hoisted a flag, stolen from an English ship, as a signal to induce the white men to come and trade with them, and Mr. Bourne resolved to make another attempt to escape. As he saw a hope of deliverance, his anxiety became intense. He says, " It was a season of deep, suppressed, silent misery, in which the heart found no relief but in mute supplication to Him who was alone able to deliver. " There lay the little island beautiful to eyes that longed, like mine, for a habitation of sympathising men about a mile and a-half distant; it almost seemed to recede while I gazed, so low had my hope sunk under the pressure of disappointment and bitter uncertainty. A violent snow-storm soon setting in, it was hidden from view ; everything seemed to be against me. It slackened, and parti- ally cleared up ; then came another gust, filling the TIIK rn: and landed upon the island en the 7th of August. " I passed, in the society of my deliverers, one of the happiest evenings of my whole life. The change was so great from the miserable and almost hopeless existence I had so long lived, that my joy exceeded all bounds. My heart overflowed with gratitude. Words could not then, and cannot now, convey any adequate impression of my feelings of the freedom and joy that animated me on being snatched from perils, privations, and enemies, and placed, as in a moment, in security, in plenty, and in the society of friends." The name of the island to which Mr. Bourne 52 HOME AT LAST. escaped is Sea Lion Island. He remained there some months, and then embarked on board an American whaler. He afterwards visited California, and finally returned in safety to New York, after many strange and interesting adventures in various countries. He says, "The steamer, State of Maine, bore me to my home, January 13, 1852 after an absence of three years lacking a month with a heart rising gratefully to God for his many interpo- sitions in my behalf, to deliver me from the perils of the sea and the perils of the land." CHAPTER III. CHILI AND ITS ISLANDS. Description of Chili Its Mines Animals -People Conquest by the Spaniards The Islands of Chili Juan Fernandez Adveutures of Alexander Selkirk, the real " Robinson Crusoe." IF you cast your eyes on a map of South America, you will see, between the high mountain chain of the Ancles or Cordilleras and the ocean, a long, narrow slip ofland, hilly, volcanic, but well watered. This slip of land is Chili. It is favoured with one of the finest and healthiest climates in the world. As it is situated on the opposite side of the equator from us, it is summer there when we have winter, and its spring corresponds in time with our autumn. The soil is wonderfully fertile ; and the productions of both hemispheres seem to thrive equally well there. In the interior, the corn sown often pro- duces a hundred-fold, and maize is not less produc- tive. Peaches grow to the weight of a pound, and apples may sometimes be seen as large as a person's head. The best kinds of strawberries grow in such profusion that this delicious fruit is often called in America " the fruit of Chili." Chili is almost the 54 CHILI AND ITS TREASURES. only country in the New World where the grapes yield good wine. Its forests are magnificent, and furnish many beautiful varieties of wood. The grass in its rich meadow pastures is often so tall and luxuriant as to hide the cattle grazing on it. Chili also possesses valuable mines of gold and silver. The excellent copper which comes from the mines of Coquimbo is much esteemed in Europe ; and there are several mines of coal which are now of great service. CONDOR OF THE ANDES. There are no dangerous animals to be feared in this highly favoured country; but the condor, the most powerful of the birds of prey, builds its nest I. LAMA AND CHINCHILLA. 5ft on the summits of the Andes. In the same moun- tains, on the boundary between the inhabited part of the country and the snow line, live the vicunas beautiful quadrupeds of the same species as the llamas, whose fine wool is used in the manufacture of the most delicate stuffs and the softest cloths. Of the animals which furnish fur, the chinchilla, a small grey creature, with long, soft hair, is the best known and the most valued. THE CHINCHILLA. The people of Chili are partly whites of Spanish origin, along with a considerable number of Indians and half-bloods all Papists. The Chilians of white descent are tall and strong, more active than Creoles usually are ; lovers of liberty ; and more civilized in some respects than the other Spanish Americans. As to the natives, the bravery with which they de- 56 DEFEAT OF THE SPANIARDS. fended their liberties when the country was sub- dued was the cause of their obtaining better condi- tions than the other conquered people; and they have always been better treated than the natives of the other provinces. The ferocious Almagro, the companion and rival of Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, was the first European who tried to take possession of Chili in 1535 ; but he soon left it, and was succeeded in the attempt by Valdivia in 1541. The war lasted ten years without intermission, and the Indians per- severed in maintaining their independence, although constantly losing ground. An Indian chief, who was so bowed down with old age and infirmity that he was unable to leave his hut, heard those around him continually relating some fresh losses and mis- fortunes which were constantly occurring. The bitter grief of hearing that his countrymen were continually being defeated by a mere handful of strangers seemed to give new strength to the old man. He was inspired with fresh vigour, left his quiet hut, succeeded in raising thirteen regiments of a thousand men each, which he placed one behind the other, and led them against the enemy. If the first division should be routed, the men had orders not to fall back on the second division, but to try to rally behind the last. These orders, which were faithfully obeyed, disconcerted the Spaniards. They broke through division after division, yet seemed to gain no advantage. At length, both men and horses having great need of rest, Valdivia ordered his troops to retreat to a narrow defile, where he thought he might take up a position which would be A CELEBRATKD TRIBE. 57 easily defended. But he was not even permitted to ivarh it. The rearguard <>f the Indians had been before him. They had gone by a circuitous route and seized the pass, while the vanguard of the Indian army followed and watched the Spanish troops. Thus Valdivia was surrounded and mas- sacred with the hundred and fifty men who com- posed his troop. It is said that the Indians poured melted gold down his throat. " Drink plentifully of the metal for which you have thirsted so greedily !" said these savages to their conquered enemy. They took advantage of their victory to cany fire and desolation into the European settlements, of which they destroyed several. All would have shared the same fate, if a considerable reinforce- ment of troops, which arrived from Peru, had not rnablt.-d the Spaniards to defend their best fortified posta At a later period, the conquest of the country was again attempted by the Spaniards, and this time with success; but in no country did they meet with such obstinate resistance : and nowhere were they obliged to take so many precautions not to offend thi-ir new subjects, in case of driving them to join the Indian tribes which still continued independent. The most celebrated of these Indian tribes are the Araucanian, who still preserve their freedom among their native mountains. They are brave and intelligent men, who live in large villages under settled laws and a regular government. Proud, industrious, and courageous, they are reckoned tin- most civilized of any of the native races of the Ni-\v 58 JUAN FERNANDEZ. World. They have not only skilful smiths and carpenters among them, but even jewellers, surgeons, physicians, and poets. Some of them are occupied with agriculture; but their chief riches consist in their flocks and herds.. They have very numerous herds of horses and oxen, and they do not hesitate to add to them by making armed incursions into the ter- ritory of Chili, and carrying off as many as they can. Chili is now a prosperous republic, containing about a million and a half of inhabitants. Its prin- cipal cities are San Jago (St. James), the capital, con- taining about seventy thousand inhabitants; and its sea-port, Valparaiso, which is one of the most important commercial places on the western coast of America. The sea-port towns of Coquimbo, Conception, and Valdivia also export many of the productions of the country. The large island of Chiloe is attached to the republic of Chili. It is situated near the coast fur- ther to the south. It is damp and foggy, but fer- tile, and is inhabited chiefly by whites. The two celebrated islets called Juan Fernandez also belong to Chili. They are situated in the wide ocean, two hundred leagues from the coast of Chili, and are the penal settlements of the republic unimportant in themselves, yet famous as the scene of the "Ad- ventures of Robinson Crusoe," a book well known to every one. In 1572, Juan Fernandez, a Spanish seaman, who often sailed between Peru and Chili, rightly calculated that, by keeping far out to sea, he would escape the contrary winds which often delayed his voyage along the coast; and by thus going out of A LONELY ISLAND. fi{) the usual track, he discovered the island which bears his name. It is called by the Chilians Mas-a-Tierra (the nearest the land), as distinguished from the smaller islet near it, which they have named Mas-a- Fuera (the furthest off). Fernandez got a grant of the island which he discovered, and went to settle there, accompanied by a few families ; but in a very short time these colonists, either discouraged by the want of communication with others, or from some other cause, abandoned the island, leaving no trace of their residence there, except a few goats, which increased in number to such a degree, that ships which passed near these shores occasionally touched at the island to supply themselves with water and goats' flesh. A few rats escaped from the ships, and several cats, which had been forgotten or left upon the island, considerably increased its animal popu- lation. The island, usually called Juan Fernandez, is of an irregular form, approaching to a triangle, and is about five leagues in length, from north-west to south-east, and not more than two at its extreme breadth. The north-east side consists of lofty mountains and deep valleys, which are covered with trees and verdure. The middle of the island is so high, as to be almost inaccessible; the western end presents a loose, dry, stony, barren soil all the harbours are on the north-east side. Seen from a distance, the island resembles an immense mass of rugged mountains and rocks of the most forbidding aspect; but as you approach nearer, it assumes a more pleasing appearance, and the eye rests with delight upon the lofty eminences CO PICTURES AND PICTURES. covered with wood, and here and there intersected by valleys. These are clothed in the most beau- tiful verdure, watered by numerous streams, which descend from rock to rock in cascades, or glide along among the underwood in silent loveliness. Many of the mountains on the north-east side are inaccessible, but they are in general covered with wood. They run across the island from the north- west to the southern side, in which last the trees are not so numerous, being checked in their growth by the violence of the wind. Many of the mountains rise to a great height, and are overspread with a dense fog, especially in the morning and evening. The island is subject to sudden gusts of wind, which rush through the valleys into the bays with great violence; but they seldom last above two or three minutes. The air is in general mild, and the sky serene. During the summer months the heat is moderate. In the beginning of June, the winter sets in commonly with a northerly wind, and continues until the end of July, but it is not severe. In the worst days there is only a little frost, accom- panied with hail; but there are occasionally heavy rains. The water is excellent; the soil upon the hills and in the valleys is a deep rich mould, and very fertile. All sorts of European and American corn, fruit, and quadrupeds, succeed extremely well, and the sea which washes the shores abound in fish. The coast affords an abundance of seals and sea lions; but there are no native quadrupeds the goats which, in the time of Selkirk's residence on the island, were so numerous, having been brought to it by the first discoverers. ANIMAL AND IM.VNT I.lFi:. Gl The ornithology of the island is confined to the albatross, hawk, oil, pintado, a small humming- bird, and the pardela : this last burrows like a rabbit, rendering the ground unsafe to walk upon; remains torpid in the winter months ; feeds on -fish ; and has a note, which it utters in the evening, resembling " Be quiet." There are spiders, which make strong webs be- tween the trees; but no venomous creature is found on the island. A great variety of fish abound on the coasts. The trees are palm, cabbage, malagita, pimento, Guinea pepper, black plums, cotton-trees, Italian laurels, myrtles, and mountain ash. The cotton- trees grow to the height of twenty yards, and planks of forty feet in length can be obtained from the myrtles. The vegetables are a long grass, about the height of a man, that covers all the fertile parts of the island, very like oats ; water-cresses, wild sorrel, fern, clover, wild oats, sour-docks, sow- thistles, mallows, wood-cresses, dandelion, night- shade; also pumpkins, Sicilian radishes, parsnips, turnips, parsley, purslain, and a herb that grows by the water-side, useful in fomentations, resembling I ever- fern. STORY OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK. The island of Juan Fernandez was for a long time a regular resort of the Bucaneers, and was also often visited by ships of various nations. During the Spanish succession war, the crew of an English privateer, equipped to capture Spanish 02 ALEXANDER SELKIRK'S STORY. ships, remained there some months to supply them- selves with fresh provisions and water. One of the men on board, named Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, having quarrelled with the captain, resolved to leave the ship and remain upon the island. Just before the ship sailed, he was landed with all his effects, which were his chest, con- taining his clothes, and a quantity of linen ; his musket, which he afterwards brought home with him ; a pound of powder, and balls in proportion ; a hatchet and some tools ; a knife ; a pewter kettle ; his flip-can, which he conveyed to Scotland (at present in the possession of John Selkirk, his great- grand-nephew); a few pounds of tobacco; the Holy Bible ; some good books, and one or two works on navigation, with his mathematical instru- ments. He leaped on shore with a faint sensation of freedom and joy. Pie shook hands with his comrades, and barte them adieu in a hearty manner, while Stradling sat in the boat, urging their return to the ship, which order they instantly obeyed ; but no sooner did the sound of their oars, as they left the beach, fall on his ears, than the horrors of being left alone cut off from all human society, perhaps for ever rushed upon his mind. His heart sunk within him, and all his resolution failed. He rushed into the water, and implored them to return and take him on board with them. To all his entreaties Stradling turned a deaf ear, and even mocked his despair; denouncing the choice he had made of remaining upon the island as rank mutiny, and describing his present situation as the most proper state for such a fellow, where his example would not affect others. TUB CASTAWAY. 63 For many days after being left alone, Selkirk was under such great dejection of mind that he never tasted food until urged by extreme hunger, nor did he go to sleep until he could watch no longer ; but session of the Brazilian Historical Association from which he is absent, and he has been named an honorary member of the New York Historical Society. He is familiar with the modern literature of England, Germany, and the United States to a degree of minuteness absolutely surprising. In stature he is indeed a Saul head and shoul- ders above his people; and in his court dress, with his crown upon his fine fair brow, and his sceptre in his hand, whether receiving the salutes of his subjects, or opening the Imperial Chambers, he is a splendid specimen of manhood. His height, when uncovered, is 6 feet 4 inches, and his head and body are beautifully proportioned. At a glance one can see in that full brain and in that fine blue eye that he is not a mere puppet upon the throne, but a man who thinks. Under his constitutional rule, civil liberty, religious toleration, and general prosperity are better secured than in any other government of the New World, save where the Anglo-Saxon bears sway. In 1850, the slave trade (which had con- tinued despite solemn treaties) was effectually put (289) >t 114 PROGRESS OF BRAZIL. down, and soon after a number of the leading dealers in the inhuman traffic men who had hitherto held a high position in society were banished. In Brazil, everything is in favour of freedom; and such are the facilities for the slave to emancipate himself, that it is probable slavery will be abolished altogether before another half century rolls round. By the Brazilian laws, a slave can go before a magistrate, have his price fixed, and pur- chase himself; and a man of mental endowments, even if he had been a slave, would be debarred from no official station, however high, unless it might be that of Imperial Senator. In the colleges, the medical, law, and theological schools, there is no distinction of colour. In 1850, the first steamship line to Europe was established, and now the empire is united to the Old World by no less than eight lines. England's commerce with Brazil, since the establishment of her first steam line in 1850, has increased her exports more than 100 per cent. In 1856 alone, Great Britain imported from Brazil 21,830,000 pounds of cotton. The imports of coffee from Brazil to Britain were 3,000,000 pounds in 1852, and rose to 52,000,000 in 1853, 59,000,000 in 1854, and 112,000,000 in 1855. Brazil receives from Great Britain 54 per cent, of all her im- ports. For the last ten years the progress of Brazil has been onward. Her public credit is of the highest character. Internal improvements have been pro- jected, and are being executed, and tranquillity has prevailed. Why must we add that there is a dark IM'I.rr.NCE OF POPF.HY. 115 side to the picture? Popery, with its accompanying ignorance, is still hanging like a drag on Diaxil, keeping the masses sunk in darkness and supersti- tion, and preventing the more rapid advance of this great nation. Yet even in this point of view there is hope. Although Popery is the established religion, it is not allowed to rule, and to this may be attri- buted the advance of Brazil beyond Mexico or the other South American States.* * In addition to the foregoing sketch, we may remind the reader that for the last two years Brazil, in conjunction with the Argentine Republic, has waged war against Paraguay and its Dictator, Lopez, who has been driven out of all his strongholds. CHAPTER VII. BIO DE JANEIRO. First Discovery of the Bay Origin of the Name The Beauty of the Scenery The Sugar-Loaf The Organ Mountains Commercial Im- portance of Rio de Janeiro Its Fine Harbour General Aspect of the City. WHAT a glorious spectacle must have presented itself to those early navigators De Solis, Majellan, and Martin Affonso de Souza who were the first Europeans that ever sailed through the narrow portal which constitutes the entrance to Nitherohy (Hidden Water), as these almost land-locked waters were appropriately and poetically termed by the Tamoya Indians! Though the mountain sides and borders of the bay are still richly and luxuriantly clothed, then all the primeval forests existed, and gave a wilder and more striking beauty to a scene so enchanting in a natural point of view, even after three centuries of the encroachments of man. De Souza, as the common tradition runs, supposed that he had entered the mouth of a mighty river, rival- ling the Orinoco and the Amazon, and named it Rio de Janeiro (River of January), after the happy month January 1531 in which he made his imagined discovery. Whatever may have been the I'.AY OF RIO DK .1 A N I .ll:<-. 1]7 origin of tliis misnomer, it is not only applied to the large and commodious bay, but to the province in which it is situated, and to the populous metro- polis of Brazil, which sits like a queen upon its bright shores. The first entrance of any one into the Bay of Rio de Janeiro forms an era in his existence. Even the dullest observer must afterwards cherish sub- lime views of the manifold beauty and majesty of the works of the Creator. I have seen the most rude and ignorant Russian sailor, the immoral and unreflecting Australian adventurer, as well as the cultivated and refined European gentleman, stand silent upon the deck, naturally admiring the gigantic avenue of mountains and palm-covered isles, which, like the granite pillars before the temple of Luxor, form a fitting colonnade to the portal of the finest bay in the world. On either side of that contracted entrance, as far as the eye can reach, stretch away the mountains, whose pointed and fantastic shapes recall the glories of Alpland. On our left the Sugar-Loaf stands like a giant sentinel to the metropolis of Brazil. The round and green summits of the Tres Irmaos (Three Brothers) are in strong contrast with the peaks of Corcovado andTijuca; while the Ga\i;i rears its huge sail-like form, and half hides the fading line of mountains which extends to the very borders of Rio Grande de Sul. On the right an- other lofty range commences near the principal fortress, which commands the entrance of the bay, and, forming curtain-like ramparts, reaches away in picturesque headlands to the bold promontory 118 CAPE FRIO. J THK GROAN* MOUNTAINS. well known to all South Atlantic navigators as Cape Frio. Far through the opening of the bay, and in some places towering even above the lofty coast-barrier, can be discovered the blue outline of A NOBLE (I TV. 119 the distant Organ mountains, whose lofty pinnacles will at once suggest the origin of their name. As far up the bay as the eye can reach, lovely, little, verdant, and palm-clad islands are to be seen rising out of its dark bosom ; while the hills and lofty mountains which surround it on all sides, when gilded by the rays of the setting sun, form a befitting frame for such a picture. At night the lights of the city have a fine effect; and when the land- breeze began to blow, the rich odour of the orange and other perfumed flowers is borne seaward along with it. The city of Rio de Janeiro, or San Sebastian, is at once the commercial emporium and the political capital of the nation. While Brazil embraces a greater territorial dominion than any other country of the Nrw \Vorld, together with natural advantages second to none on the globe, the position, the scenery, and the increasing magnitude of it! capital, render it a metropolis worthy of the empire. Rio de Janeiro is the largest city of South America, the third in size on the western continent, and boasts an antiquity greater than that of any city in the United States. Its harbour is situated just within the borders of the southern torrid zone, and communient' before desci il.c.l. with the wide-rolling Atlantic by a deep and narrow passage between two granite mountains. This entrance is so safe as to render the services of a pilot entirely unnecessary. So commanding, however, is the position of the various fortresses at the mouth of the harbour, upon it> islands, and on the surrounding heights, that, if sufficiently manned by a body of determined men, 120 ITS GENERAL ASPECT. they might defy the hostile ingress of the proudest navies in the world. Once within this magnificent bay of Nitherohy, the wanderer of the seas may safely moor his bark within hearing of the roar of the ocean surf. The aspect which Rio de Janeiro presents to the beholder bears no resemblance to the compact brick walls, the dingy roofs, the tall chimneys, and the generally even sites of our northern cities. Its surface is diversified by hills of irregular, but pic- turesque shape, which shoot up in different directions, leaving between them flat intervals of greater or lees extent. Along the bases of these piles, and up their sides, stand rows of buildings, whose whitened walls and red-tiled roofs are in happy contrast with the deep green foliage that always surrounds, and often embowers them. The most prominent emi- nence, almost in front of us, is the Morro de Cas- tello, which overlooks the mouth of the harbour, and on which is the tall signal<-staff which announces, in common with the telegraph on Babylonia Hill, the nation, class, and position of every vessel that appears in the offing. Upon our right we see the convent-crowned hill of San Bueto; and if we could have a bird's-eye view from a point midway be- tween the turrets of the convent and the signal- staff of Morro de Castello, we should see the city spread beneath us, with its streets, steeples, and towers, its public edifices, parks, and vermillion chimneyless roofs, and its aqueducts spanning the spaces between the seven green hills, constitut- ing a gigantic mosaic, bordered upon one side by the mountains, and on the other by the blue waters of the bay. 122 THE CAPITAL OF BRAZIL. From the central portion of the city the suburbs extend about four miles in each of the three princi- pal directions ; BO that the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, containing 300,000 inhabitants, covers a greater extent of ground than any European city of the same population. Here dwell a large part of the nobility of the nation ; and for a considerable portion of the year the representatives of the different provinces, the ministers of state, the foreign ambassadors and consuls, and a commingled populace of native Brazilians and of foreigners from almost every clime. That which, in the popular estimation, however, confers the greatest distinction upon Rio, is not the busy throng of foreign and home mer- chants, sea captains, ordinary government officials, and the upper classes of society; but it is in the fact that here resides the imperial head of Brazil, the young and gifted Don Pedro II., who unites the blood of the Braganzas and the Hapsburgs, and under whose constitutional rule, civil liberty, re- ligious toleration, and general prosperity, are better secured than in any other government of the New World, save where the Anglo-Saxon bears sway. Rio de Janeiro will ever be memorable as the first spot in the Western Hemisphere where the banner of the reformed religion was unfurled. A Frenchman, named Nicholas Durand de Ville- gagnon, a knight of Malta, aspired to the honour of establishing a colony in the New World. He was an officer of distinction in the French service, and had been appointed to the honourable post of commander of the vessel which bore Mary, Queen A HUGUENOT COLONY. 123 of Scots, from France to her own country. He pretended to be a Protestant, and had the cun- ning and address to secure the patronage of the great and good Admiral Coligny, whose persevering attempt to plant the reformed religion in both North and South America was a leading feature in his life up to the time when St. Bartholomew's Eve was written in characters of blood. Villegagnon proposed to found an asylum for the persecuted Huguenots. Admiral Coligny's influence secured to him a respectable number of colonists. The French Court was disposed to view with no small satisfaction the plan of founding a colony after the example of the Portuguese and Spanish. In 1555 Henry II. of France furnished three small vessels, of which Villegagnon took the command, and sailed from Havre de Grace. After a long and perilous voyage, he entered the Bay of Nithcrohy and commenced fortifying a small island near the entrance, now denominated Lage, and occupied by a fort. His fortress, however, being of wood, could not resist the action of the water at flood-tide, and he was obliged to remove further upward, to the island now called Villegagnon, where he built a fort, at first named in honour of his patron Coligny. This expedition was well planned, and the place for a colony fitly chosen. The French were welcomed by the natives, who disliked the Portuguese. It was upon this island that they erected their rude plan of worship, and here these French Puri- tans offered their prayers and sang their hymns of praise nearly threescore years and ten before a pil- grim placed his foot on Plymouth Rock, and more 124 A TRAITOROUS PAPIST. than half a century before the Book of Common Prayer was borne to the banks of the James River. Many colonists from Europe were disposed to join this honourable bond of pioneers. The Church of Geneva became interested in the object, and ministers and students were appointed to go to the? new colony. Had their leader been true, a noble and free State might soon have arisen in South America. But Villegagnon was a traitor a Papist in disguise. As soon as he dared, he avowed his real opinions, and began to persecute the truth. Those who had come to the other side of the globe to enjoy liberty of conscience, found persecution where they had hoped for freedom. Many of them returned, and on their homeward voyage, ill pro- vided with stores, they were reduced to the greatest misery. For want of food they not only devoured all the leather, even to the covering of their trunks, but in their despair they attempted to chew the hard, dry Brazil wood which happened to be in the vessel. Several died of hunger. They arrived in Europe just in time to undeceive a body of Flemish adventurers ready to embark for Brazil, arid also about 10,000 Frenchmen who would have emigrated, if the object of Coligny in founding his colony had not been thus wickedly betrayed. Had it not been for the treachery of Villegagnon to the party to which he pretended to belong, Rio de Janeiro would probably have been at this day the capital of a French Protestant colony or of an independent State, free from the curse of Popery. But those who would have joined the infant A I'oiriTcrKsi-: VKTOKY. 125 colony Laving been deterred, by finding that the leader was a traitor, the small band who first wrnt out were left to fight the battle alone. The French Court was too busy burning and massacring the Huguenots (as they called the Protestants) to think of Brazil ; and Coligny, after his generous plans had been ruined by the treachery of Villegagnon, no longer regarded the colony. The day for emigra- tion from his country w as over ; and they who should have colonized Rio de Janeiro were bearing arms against a bloody and implacable enemy in de- fence of everything dear to man. On the 20th of January 1567 (called by the Papists St. Sebastian's day), the stronghold of the French was stormed by the Portuguese, who had settled on the mainland. All who loved the truth were either murdered or forced to fly. The Portu- guese governor traced out the plan of a new city, which he called St. Seba.-tian, alter the idol of the day. He celebrated his victory by the death of the martyrs of the truth ; and thus the new city was founded in blood. The name of St. Sebastian has been since changed to Rio de Janeiro, the name ol the bay. The author of " Brazil and La Plata" makes the following remarks in regard to the treachery of Yillegagnon, and the consequent defeat of the first French colonists : " With the remembrance of this failure in estab- lishing the reformed religion here, and of the direct cause which led to it, I often found myself specu- lating as to the possible and probable results which would have followed the successful establishment of 126 WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. Protestantism during the three hundred years that have since intervened. With the wealth, power, and increasing prosperity of the United States before us, as the fruits, at the end of two hundred years, of the colonization of a feeble band of Protestants on the comparative bleak and barren shore of the northern continent, there is no presumption in the belief that, had a people of similar faith, similar morals, similar habits of industry and enterprise, gained an abiding footing in so genial a climate, and on a soil so exu- berant, long ago the still unexplored and impenetrable wilderness of the interior would have bloomed and blossomed in civilization as the rose, and Brazil, from the sea-coast to the Andes, would have become one of the gardens of the world. But the germ which might have led to this was crushed by the bad faith and malice of Villegagnon ; and, as I look on the spot which bears his name and perpetuates his reproach, the two or three solitary palms which lift their tufted heads above the embattled walls, and furnish the only evidence of vegetation on the island, seem, instead of plumed warriors in the midst of their defences, like sentinels of grief mourning the blighted hopes of the long past." But we should not look too " mournfully into the past;" for though, in the mysterious dealings of Providence, no Protestant nation, with its attendant vigour and progress, sways it over that fertile and salubrious land, may we not, to a certain extent, legitimately consider the tolerant and fit constitution of the empire and its good government, the general material prosperity, and the advancement of the Brazilians, in every point of view, far beyond all INSTANCE OF CREDULITY. 127 other South American nations, as an answer to the faithful prayers with which those pious Huguenots baptized Brazil more than three centuries ago? Yes! there is hope for Brazil. Popery, though established, is despised by all the intelligent natives of the country. It is there seen undisguised, as it really is, amixture of heathen rites and Christianity, idolatry with a Christian name, the worship of idols under the name of saints, uncovered with the cloak of dissimulation which wily priests find it advisable to throw over it in our land of truth and light. For example, in Bahia, a city of Brazil, they worship an image which they call St. Anthony, which was cast on shore by the waves, and which the people poor ignorant Romanists fancied had come direct either from heaven or from Rome (had they ever been in Italy they would have known that Rome and heaven are far apart). Protestants say that this was the figure-head of a wrecked ship, cast on shore by the currents which Lieutenant Maury has so well described. But Romanists in Brazil worship it ; it was first promoted to the rank of captain, and then the bills for its washing, clothing, &c., are regularly paid by the deluded people to the Franciscan monks. It may easily be believed that all intelligent men despise the Romanist Church, both for the ignorance and the immorality of the priests. They see that Romanism is falsehood, but they know not where to find the truth. An interesting remark waa made by a Brazilian to an American missionary, who asked him what report he should give to the religious world respecting Brazil ? " Say that we 1 28 DIFFUSION OF THE BIBLE. are in darkness, behind the age, and almost aban- doned." "But that you wish for light?" "We wish for nothing. We are hoping in God, the Father of lights." They are, at least, ready to receive the light. They are thankful for the Bibles distributed among them by the agents of the American Missionary and Bible Societies. The more the priests oppose the Bible, the more the people welcome it, ready to cast off the yoke of falsehood. They appear willing to receive the joyful tidings of the gospel of Christ. May the light of truth in all its brightness vet beam on Brazil! CHAPTER VIII. VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF BRAZIL. Extent of Brazil Its Vast Resources Its Productions, Mineral and Vegetable The Mandioc Root Its Use by the Natives By the 1'ortuRuese Modes of Preparing it Drink made from it The Palm Tree Its Uses The Caoutchouc or Gum-Elastic Tree The Milk Tree, Ac. BRAZIL has neither heen explored nor surveyed, and its full extent cannot be accurately ascertained; but according to the best calculations made in 1845 for the " Diccionario Geographico Braziliero," the empire contains within its borders 3,004,460 square miles. The United States, by the latest computa- tions of the Topographical Bureau at Washington, has an area of 2,936,166 square miles. Brazil is therefore 68,294 square miles larger than the whole territory of the Union ; in other words, we should have to add to the possessions of the United States an area equal to that of the adjacent States of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, to make it of the same dimensions as the land of the Southern Cross European Russia possesses an area of 2,142,504 square miles, and the remainder of Europe 1,687,626. It is by these figures and comparisons that we may arrive at an approximate idea of the vastness of Brazil. (2S9) 9 130 RESOURCES OF BRAZIL. It has already been seen that the internal resources of this empire are commensurate with its favoured position and its wide extent. It is neither the gold of its mines nor the diamonds that sparkle in the beds of its inland rivers that constitute the greatest sources of its available wealth. Although nature has bestowed upon Brazil the most precious minerals, yet she has been still more prodigal in the gift of vegetable riches. Embracing nearly five degrees north of the equator, the whole latitude of the southern torrid and ten degrees of the southern temperate zones, and stretching its longitude from Cape St. Augustine (the easternmost point of the continent) across the mountains of its own interior to the very foot of the Andes, its soil and its climate offer an asylum to almost every valuable plant. In addition to numberless varieties of indi- genous growth, there is scarcely a production of either India which might not be naturalized in great perfection under or near the equator ; while its interior uplands, and its soil in the far south, welcome many of the fruits, the grains, and the hardier vegetables of Europe. It would take volumes, instead of a few pages, to describe all the rich and varied productions of Brazil, coffee, cotton, and sugar are the chief. Its giant forests furnish inexhaustible supplies of fine wood, and its plains feed vast herds of cattle. Wheat and rice grow in some parts, but the man- dioca is the principal farinaceous production of Brazil, and is as much associated with the sus- tentation of life in Brazil as wheat in more northern climes. THE CASSAVA-PLANT. 131 Tliis vegetable (Manihot utilissima) is deserv- ing of particular notice. Its peculiarity is the union of a deadly poison with highly nutritious qualities. It is indigenous to Brazil, and was known to the Indians long before the discovery of the country. The little cultivation to which the natives attended was that of this root, which, when planted in burned ground, thrives among the stumps and roots of trees without further husbandry. It is difficult to imagine how savages should have even discovered that a wholesome food might be prepared from this root. Their mode of preparation was by scraping it to a fine pulp with oyster-shells, or with an instru- ment made of small sharp stones set in a piece of bark, so as to form a rude rasp. The pulp was then rubbed or ground with a stone, the juice care- fully expressed, and the last remaining moisture evaporated by the fire. The operation of preparing it was thought unwholesome, and the slaves, whose business it was, took the flowers of the nhambi and the root of the urucu in their food, " to strengthen the heart and the stomach." The Portuguese soon invented mills and presses for this purpose. They usually pressed it in cellars, and places where it was least likely to occasion accidental harm. In these places it is said that a white insect was found generated by this deadly juice, itself not less deadly, with which the native women sometimes poisoned their husbands, and slaves their masters, by putting it in their food. A poultice of mandioc, with its own juice, was con- sidered excellent for imposthumes. It was admini- 132 ITS MODE OF PREPARATION. stered for worms, and was applied to old wounds to eat away the diseased flesh. For some poisons also, and for the bite of certain snakes, it was esteemed a sovereign remedy. The simple juice was used for cleaning iron. The poisonous quality is confined to the root, for the leaves of the plant are eaten, and even the juice might be made innocent by boiling, and be fermented into vinegar, or inspis- sated till it became sweet enough to serve for honey. The crude root cannot be preserved three days by any possible care, and the slightest moisture spoils the flour. Piso observes that he had seen great ravages occasioned among the troops by eating it in this state. There were two modes of preparation by which it could more easily be kept. The roots were sliced under water, and then hardened before a fire. When wanted for use, they were grated into a fine powder, which, being beaten up with water, became like a cream of almonds. The other method was to macerate the root in water, till it became putrid, then hang it up to be smoke-dried ; and this, when pounded in a mortar, produced a flour as white as meal. It was frequently prepared in this manner by savages. The most delicate pre- paration was by pressing it through a sieve, and putting the pulp immediately in an earthen vessel on the fire. It then granulated, and was excellent when either hot or cold. The native mode of cultivating it was rude and summary. The Indians cut down the forest trees, let them lie till they were dry enough to burn, and then planted the mandioc between the stumps. They ate the dry flour in a manner that baffled all imita- A FERMENTED LIQUOR. 133 tion. Taking it between their fingers, they tossed it into their mouths so neatly that not a grain was lost. No European ever tried to perform this feat without ])o\vdering his face or his clothes, to the amusement of the savages. The manioc supplied them also with the ban- queting-drink. They prepared it by an ingenious process, which savage man has often been cunning enough to invent, but never cleanly enough to reject. The roots were sliced, boiled till they became soft, and set aside to cool. The young women then chewed them, after which they were returned into the vessel, which was filled with water, and once more boiled, being stirred the whole time. When this process had been continued sufficiently long, the unstrained contents were poured into earthen jars of great size, and buried up to the middle in the floor of the house. The jars were closely stopped, and in the course of two or three (lav- fermentation took place. They had an old super- stition that if it were made by men it would be good for nothing. When the drinking-day arrived, the women kindled fires around these jars, and served out the warm potion in half-gourds, which the men came dancing and singing to receive, and always emptied at one draught. They never ate at these parties, but continued drinking as long as one drop of liquor remained ; and having exhausted all in one house, removed to the next, till they had drunk out all in the town. These meetings were commonly held once in the month. De Levy witnessed one which lasted three days and three nights. Thus man in every age and country gives 134 MANIHOT OR MANDIOCA. proof of his depravity, by converting the gifts of a bountiful Providence into the means of his own destruction. BOOTS OF MANIHOT OB MANDIOCA. Mandioca is of slow growth, the more com- mon species requiring from twelve to eighteen months to ripen. Its roots have a great tendency to spread. Cut slips of the plant are inserted in large holes, which at the same time counteract this ten- dency, and furnish it with a dry soil, which the mandioca prefers. The roots, when dry, are of a fibrous texture, corresponding in appearance to HOW TAPIOCA IS MADE. 13." those of the long parsnip. The process of prepara- tion is, first to boil them, then to remove the rind ; after which the pieces are held by the hand in contact with a circular grater, turned by water- power. The pulverized material is then placed in sacks, several of which, thus filled, are subjected to the action of a screw-press for the expulsion of the poisonous liquid. The masses thus solidified by pressure are beaten fine in mortars. The sub- stance is next transferred to open ovens, or concave plates, heated beneath, where it is constantly :md rapidly stirred until quite dry. The appearance of the farina, when well prepared, is very white and beautiful, although its particles are rather coarse. It is found upon every Brazilian table, and forms a great variety of healthy and palatable dishes. The fine substance deposited by the juice of the mandioca, when preserved, standing a short time, constitutes the tapioca of commerce, so well known in the culinary departments of North America and Europe, and is now a valuable export from Brazil. But the most generous gift of Providence to Brazil is the palm-tree. The traveller in the interior provinces and upon the sea-coast, away from the cities, is struck by the very great application of this "prince of the vegetable kingdom" to the wants of man. And if the prince plays so impor- tant a part in the domestic economy of Europeans and their descendants, his highness was, and is, servant for general house and field work among the aborigines of Brazil. To this day it furnishes the Amazonian Indians house, raiment, food, drink, salt, fishing-tackle, hunting implements, and musi- 136 A TREE OF LIFE. TAPPING A PALM, cal instruments, and almost every necessary of life, except flesh. Take the hut of a Uaupe Indian, on one of the affluents of the Rio Negro. The rafters are formed by the straight and uniform palm called Leopoldina pulchra, the roof is composed of the Carana palm, and the doors and frame-work of the split stems of the Iriartea exporiza. The wide bark which grows beneath the fruit of another species is sometimes used as an apron. The Indian's ham- mock, his bow-strings, and his fishing-lines are woven and twisted from the fibrous portions of different palms. The comb with which the males of some of the tribes adorn their heads is made from the hard wood of a palm, and the fish-hooks are made from the spine of the same tree. The Indian makes, from the fibrous spathes of the Manicaria saccifera, caps for his head, or cloth, in which he wraps his most treasured feathered ornaments. From eight species he can obtain USES OF THE PAI.M. intoxicating liquor ; from many more (not including the cocoa- nut palm, found on the sea-coast) he re- ceives oil and a har- vest of fruit ; and from one (the Jard assu) he procures, by burning the large clusters of small nuts, a substi- tute for salt. From another he forms a cylinder for squeezing the mandioca pulp, because it resists for a long time the action of the poisonous juice. The great woody spathes of the Maxi- miliana, regia are "used by hunters to cook meat in, as, with water in them, they stand the fire well" (Wallace). These spathes are also em- ployed for carrying earth, and sometimes for cradles. Arrows are made from the spinous processes of the Patawd, and THE CAOUTCIIOU 138 SOME NOTABLE TEEES. lances and heavy harpoons are made from the Triatea ventricosa; the long blow-pipe through which the Indian sends the poisoned arrow that brings down the bright birds, the fearless peccari, and even the thick-skinned tapir, is furnished by the Setigera palm the great bassoon-like musical instruments used in the "devil-worship" of the Uaupe's are also made from the stems of the palm-trees. The caoutchouc or gum-elastic tree, called by the natives borracha, and by learned men SipMlla elastica, grows to the height of eighty, or even a hundred feet, with a tall, erect stem, a spreading top, and thick glossy foliage. From the stem, when cut, a substance flows, having the appearance of rich yellow cream. This when collected, dried, and blackened in the smoke, is our India-rubber. The natives of Brazil make it into shoes, bottles, toys, &c. Another tree, the massanderuba, yields a white fluid resembling milk, much prized by the natives as a beverage. Here, too, in abundance grows the Bertholletia excelsa, a giant tree, which produces the Brazil-nuts which are brought to this country ; but we never taste them in perfection, as the fruit is much more delicious when fresh. In the forests are also found the trees which produce vanilla, annato, cacao, cinnamon, e quantities of them may be seen at Rio de Janeiro, and from that port they are scattered along the eoast, being very much esteemed as an article of food. The great staple, however, of Minas-Geraes, and of the whole empire of Brazil, is coffee. AY hat a history might be written of the voyages, the naturalization, and. the uses of this member of the Ituliacece family! The coffee-tree is not, ; generally supposed, a native of Arabia, but its hIN. 177 foam is raised to the height of 180 feet ; the islands in the neighbourhood are shaken in the strife ; the fishers, the boatmen, and the alligators withdraw trembling from the shock. At spring-tide such is the vehemence of this collision, that the opposite waves precipitate themselves on each other like hostile armies ; the shores are covered to a great distance on either sides with volumes of foam ; huge rocks, whirled about like barks, are borne aloft on the surface; and the awful roar, re-echoed from island to island, gives the first warning to the far distant mariner that he is approaching the shores of South America." A volume of fresh water, constantly replenished by copious rains, pours forth with such impetus as to force itself an unmixed current into the ocean, to the distance of eighty leagues. While the principal branch of the Ganges discharges 80,000 cubic feet of water every sixtieth part of a minute, the Amazon sends through the Narrows at Obidos 550,000 cubic feet per second; while the whole area drained by the Mississippi and its branches, is 1,200,000 square miles, the area of the Amazon and its tributaries (not including that of the Tocantins, wlpch is larger than the Ohio Valley), is 2,330,000 square miles. This is more than a third of all South America, and equal to two-thirds of all Europe. Mr. Wallace has startled Englishmen with the fact, that " all Western Europe could be placed in it without touching its boundaries, and it would even contain the whole of our Indian Empire." This " King of waters " is remarkable for its wide spreading tributaries, which are nearly all navigable (289) ] 2 178 ITS DISCOVERY to a great distance, from their junction with the mair trunk, and, collecting the whole, afford an extent oi water communication unparalleled in any other part of the globe. There is a total of ten thousand miles of steam navigation below all falls; and, these obstructions once passed, steamers could be run for four thousand miles. The native name of Amazon is " Para," which signifies " the father of waters." It has been also called " Maranon " from the Portuguese words, meaning " not the sea" (as it appears to be near its mouth) ; " Orellana" from the name of the Spaniard Orellana, who was the first to descend the stream to its mouth ; and "Amazon," because the Spaniards believed that the first natives who met them in battle on its shores were women. Later travellers have said that this fancy originated in the feminine appearance of the Indians of that country, who wear their hair in long locks, sometimes plaited, or fastened up with a comb and who adorn them- selves with bracelets and necklaces. The use of ornaments in these tribes is almost confined to the men. The first expedition of Orellana took place in 1541-42, and the second in 1544. About seventy years afterwards the Portuguese began to settle in Para. In 1616 the foundations of the present city of Para were laid by Francisco Cadeira. In 1637 another party descended the Amazon from Quito, and in the same year the first expedition for the ascent of the Amazon was organized. It was com- manded by Pedro Teixiera, and was composed of 70 soldiers, 1200 native rowers and boatmen. N \ ,iy \, 17D V>i females and .-laves. \\ ho increa-.-d the number to about 2000. They embarked in forty-five canoes. After a voyage of eight months the re- mains of the party (many of whom had deserted) readied the extent of navigation. There the com- mander left his canoes and continued his journey overland to Quito, where he was received with distinguished honours. After this voyages upon the Amazon became more common. In 1745, Mr. La Condamine, a French Academi- cian, descended from Quito, and constructed a map i>f the river, based upon a series of astronomical observations. His memoir, read before the Royal Academy on his return, remains to this day a very interesting work. In modern times the most cele- brated voyages down the Amazon have been described at length by those who accomplished them, e.g. Spix, and Von Martius, Lister Maroe, Lieutenants Smith, Ilenidon and Gibbon, and Mr. Wallace. The expeditions to which I have alluded have generally been prosperous, and not attended with any peculiar misfortunes. Not so with every voyage that has been undertaken upon these inter- minable waters. The sufferings of Madame Godin des Odonnais have hardly a parallel on record. The husband of this lady was an astronomer associated with M. Condamine. He had taken his family with him to reside in Quito, but being ordered to Cayenne, was obliged to leave them behind. Circumstances transpired to prevent his returning for a period of sixteen years, and when finally he made the attempt to ascend the Amazon, he was taken sick and could not proceed. All the 180 A WOMAN'S HEROISM. messages that he attempted to send his absent wife failed of their destination. In the meantime a rumour reached her that an expedition had been despatched to meet her at some of the missions on the upper Amazon. She immediately resolved to set out on the perilous journey. She was accom- panied by her family, including three females, two children, and several men, two of whom were her brothers. They surmounted the Andes and passed down the tributary streams of the Amazon without serious difficulties; but the further they entered into the measureless solitudes that lay before them, the more their troubles increased. The missions were found in a state of desolation under the ravages of the small-pox. The village where they expected to find Indians to conduct them down the river had but two inhabitants surviving. These had no boat, but they engaged to construct one and pilot it to the mission of Andoas, about twelve days journey below, descending the river of Bobonaza, a distance of from 140 to 150 leagues; she paid them beforehand. The canoe being finished, they all departed from Canelos. After navigating the river two days, on the suceeding morning the pilots absconded; the unfortunate party embarked with- out any one to steer the boat, and passed the day without accident. The next day at noon they discovered a canoe in a small port adjoining a leaf-built hut, in which was a native recovering from illness, who consented to pilot them. On the third day of his voyage, while stooping over to recover the hat of Mr. R. which had fallen into the water, the poor man fell over- A NARROW ESCAPE. 181 board, and, not having sufficient strength to reach the shore, was drowned. Behold the canoe, again \\ -itliout a steersman, abandoned to individuals per- fectly ignorant of managing it. In consequence, it was shortly overset, which obliged the party to land and build themselves a hut. They were now but from five to six days' journey from Andoas. Mr. R. proposed to repair thither, and set off with another Frenchman of the party, and the faithful negro belonging to Madame Godin, taking especial care to carry his effects with him. " I since blamed my wife," says her husband who related the story, " for not having despatched one of her brothers to ac- company Mr. R., but found that neither of them, after the accident which had befallen the canoe, were inclined to trust themselves on the water ajrain without a proper pilot. Mr. R., moreover, promised that within a fortnight a canoe should be forwarded to them with a proper complement of natives. The fortnight expired, and even the five and twenty days, when giving over all hopes, they constructed a raft on which they ventured themselves, with their pro- visions and property. The raft, badly framed, struck against the branch of a sunken tree, and over- set, all their effects perishing in the waves, and the whole party being plunged into the water. Thanks to the little breadth of the river at this place, no one was drowned, Madame Godin being happily saved, after twice sinking, by her brother. Placed now in a situation still more distressing than before, they collectively resolved on tracing the course of the river along its banks. How difficult an enter- prise this was, any one may be aware, who knows 182 A DEPLORABLE CONDITION. how thickly the banKs of the river are beset with trees, underwood, herbage, and lianas, and that it is often necessary to cut one's way. They returned to their hut, took what provisions they had left behind, and began their journey. By keeping along the river's side, they found its sinuosities greatly length- ened their way, to avoid which inconvenience they penetrated the wood, and in a few days they lost them- selves. Wearied with so many days' march in the midst of woods, incommodious even for those accus- tomed to them, their feet torn by thorns and brambles, their provisions exhausted, and dying with thirst, they were fain to subsist on a few seeds, wild fruit, and the palm cabbage. At length, oppressed with hunger and thirst, with lassitude and loss of strength, they seated themselves on the ground without the power of rising, and, waiting thus the approach of death, in three or four days, expired one after the other. Madame Godin, stretched on the ground by the side of the corpses of her brothers and other companions, stupified, delirious, and tormented with choking thirst, at length assumed resolu- tion and strength enough to drag herself along in search of the deliverance which providentially awaited her. Such was her deplorable condition, she w r as without shoes, and her clothes all torn to rags. She cut the shoes off her brother's feet, and fastened the soles on her own. It was about the period between the 25th and 30th of December 1769, that this unfortunate party (at least seven of the number of them) perished in this miserable man- ner; the date I gather by what I learn from the only survivor, who related that it was nine days ACROSS THE DESERT. 183 after she quitted the scene of the wretched catas- trophe described before she reached the banks of the Bobonaza. Doubtless, this interval must have appeared to her of great length; and how a female BO delicately educated, and in such a state of want and exhaustion, could support her distress, though but half the time, appears most wonderful. She as- sured me that she was ten days alone in the wood, two awaiting death by the side of her brothers, the other eight wandering at random. The remem- brance ef the shocking spectacle she witnessed, the horror incident on her solitude, and the darkness of night in a desert, the perpetual apprehension of death, which every instant served to augment, had such an effect on her spirits as to cause her hair to turn grey. On the second day's march, the distance necessarily inconsiderable, she found water, and the succeeding day some wild fruit and fresh eggs of what bird she knew not, but which, by her descrip- tion, I conjecture to have been a species of partridge. These with the greatest difficulty was she enabled to swallow, the aesophagus, owing to the want of aliment, having become so parched and straitened ; but these and other food she accidentally met with sufficed to support her skeleton frame. At length, and not before it was indispensable, arrived the succour designed for her by Providence. Were it told in a romance that a female of delicate habit, accustomed to all .the comforts of life, had been pre- cipitated into a river ; that, after being withdrawn when on the point of drowning, this female, the eighth of a party, had penetrated into unknown and pathless woods, and travelled in them for weeks. 184 ON THE RIVER-BANK. not knowing whither she directed her steps ; that enduring hunger, thirst, and fatigue to very ex- haustion, she should have seen her two brothers, far more robust than her, a nephew yet a youth, three young women her servants, and a young man, the domestic left by the physician who had gone on before, all expire by her side, and she yet survive ; that, after remaining by their corpses two whole days and nights, in a country abounding in tigers and num- bers of dangerous serpents, without once seeing any of these animals or reptiles, she should afterwards have strength to rise and continue her way, covered with tatters, through the same pathless woods for eight days together, till she reached the banks of the Bobanaza, the author would be charged with incon- sistency ; but the historian should paint facts to his reader, and this is nothing but the truth. It was on the eighth or ninth day, according to Madame Godin, after leaving the dreadful scene of the death of her companions, that she found herself on the banks of the Bobanaza. At daybreak she heard a noise at about two hundred paces from her. Her first emotions, which were those of terror, occasioned her to strike into the wood ; but, after a moment's reflec- tion, satisfied that nothing worse could possibly be- fall her than to continue in her present state, and that alarm was therefore childish, she proceeded to the bank of the river, and perceived two native Americans launching a boat into the stream. It is the custom of these people, on their landing to pass the night, to draw their canoe either wholly, or par- tially on shore, as a security against accidents ; for, should it be left afloat, and the fastening tackle A HAPPY REUNION. 185 break, it would be carried away by the current, and leave the sleepers on shore in a truly helpless state. The natives, perceiving Madame Godin, advanced towards her, on which she conjured them to trans- port her to Andoas. They had been driven by the con- tagion prevalent at Canelos, to withdraw with their wives to a hut they had at a distance, and were then going to Andoas. They received my wife on board with kindness truly affectionate, showed every atten- tion to her wants, and conducted her to that village. At Andoas Madame Godin procured a canoe, with a crew from the village, and thus reached Laguna, where she remained six weeks to rest after her dreadful journey having travelled upwards of four hundred leagues. She had yet four or five times that distance to pass before she reached Cayenne, but she refused to return. The rest of her journey W:H performed in comparative comfort on board a Portuguese vessel. She met her husband again after their long separation, and, as soon as her health would permit, she accompanied him to Europe. Not all the care and tenderness lavished on her by her husband would make her lose the remem- brance of her fearful sufferings in the forest, and long after she was settled in her quiet and pleasant home on their estate at St. Amand in Berry, she shuddered at the slightest word which reminded her of her travels; and the sudden mention of South America or the Amazon would cause a nervous fit, which deprived her of her voice, and left her for hours pale, cold, silent, plunged in deep thought and still deeper melancholy. Steam navigation has now begun on the Amazon. 186 STEAM ON THE AMAZON. In 1857 there were seven steamers in successful operation, and two new boats were expected. If this enterprise succeeds as it ought to do, flourish- ing cities and cultivated fields may soon replace the wild forest ; and the jaguar and the alligator may be gradually exterminated as their haunts are taken possession of by civilized man. CHAPTER XIII. PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE ON THE AMAZON. The Turtle of the Amazon Turtle Egg Butter Indian way of Catching Turtle Indian Shooting The Umbrella Bird The Victoria Regiu- The Jacana The Fish-Cow The Anaconda A Horse Swallowed by a Snake Narrow Escape from a Boa Constrictor. " THE tartaruga, or turtle, of the Amazons are to be found by the thousand in nearly all the affluents, especially the Madeira, Purus, Napo, Ucayali, and Huallaga. At the season for them to deposit their eggs on the ' praiasj the streams will be fairly speckled with them, paddling their clumsy carcases up to their native sand-bar, for it is positively asserted by the natives that the turtle will not de- posit its eggs anywhere except where it was itself hatched out. They lay from 80 to 120 eggs every other year. Of this I have been assured by persons who have artificial ponds, and keep them the year round for their own table. September and October are the months for depositing their eggs." Dr. Kidder says: " The turtle-egg butter of Amazonia (manteiga da lartaruga) is a substance quite peculiar to this quarter of the globe. At certain seasons of the year the 188 TUKTLE-EGG BUTTER. turtles appear by thousands on the banks of the rivers, in order to deposit their eggs upon the sand. The noise of their shells striking against each other in the rush is said to be sometimes heard at a great distance. Their work commences at dusk, and ends with the following dawn, when they retire to the water. " During the day-time the inhabitants collect these eggs and pile them up in heaps resembling the stacks of cannon balls seen at a navy yard. These heaps are often twenty feet in diameter, and of a corre- sponding height. While yet fresh they are thrown into wooden canoes, or other large vessels, and broken with sticks and stamped fine with the feet. Water is then poured on, and the whole is exposed to the rays of the sun. The heat brings the oily matter of the egg to the surface, from which it is skimmed off with cuyas and shells. After this it is subjected to a moderate heat until ready for use. When clarified, it has the appearance of butter that has been melted. It always retains the taste of fish-oil, but is much prized for seasoning by the Indians and those who are accustomed to its use. It is conveyed to market in earthen jars. In earlier times it was estimated that nearly 250,000,000 of turtles' eggs were annually destroyed in the manu- facture of this manteiga. Recently the number is less, owing to the gradual inroads made upon the turtle race, and also to the advance of civili- zation." But the Government now regulates the turtle egg harvest, so that their numbers may not be so rapidly diminished. There are some extensive beaches which yield 2000 pots of oil annually. Each pot CATCIJING TURTLE. 189 contains five gallons, and requires about 2500 eggs, which would give 5,000,000 ova destroyed in one locality. Indeed, it is a wonder how the turtles can ever come to maturity; as they issue from the eggs, and make their way to the water, many enemies are awaiting them. Huge alligators swallow them by hundreds; the jaguars feed upon them; eagles, buz- zards, and great wood-ibises are their devourers; and whrii tiny have escaped these land foes, many ravenous fishes are ready to seize them in the stream. They are, however, so prolific, that it has remained for their most fatal enemy, man, to visibly diminish their number. The Indians take the full-grown turtle in a net, or catch him with a hook, or shoot him with an arrow. The latter is a most ingenious method, and requires more skill than to shoot a bird upon the wing. The turtle never shows its back above the water, but, rising to breathe, its nostrils only are protruded above the surface; so slight, however, is the rippling, that none but the Indian's keen eyes perceive it. If he shoot an arrow obliquely, it would glance off the smooth shell ; therefore he aims into the air, and apparently " draws a bow at a venture;" but he sends up his missile with such wonderfully accurate judgment, that it describes a parabola and descends nearly vertically into the back of the turtle. ( Wallace.) The arrow-head fits loosely to the shaft, and is attached to it by a long, fine cord, carefully wound round the wood, so that when the turtle dives the barb descends, the string unwinds, and the light shaft forms a float or buoy, which the Indian secures, and by the attached cord 190 INDIAN ARCHERY. he draws the prize up into his canoe. Nearly all the turtles sold in the market are taken in this manner, and the little square, vertical hole made by the arrow-head may generally be seen in the shell. In connection with this might be mentioned the archery of some of the civilized Indians in various THE UMBRELLA BIRD. portions of the empire. A large and strong bow is bent by their legs. In this way they are able to shoot game at a great distance. As to the birds of the Amazon, they are every- INDIAN M01>B OF 8HOOTINO. 192 THE TRUMPET BIRD. where brilliant beyond birds in any other portion of the world. Some, like the dancing cock of the rock and the curious little-known umbrella bird, are very difficult to obtain. I can only mention the latter. This singular bird is about the size of a raven, and is of a similar colour, but its feathers have a more scaly appearance, from being margined with a different shade of glossy Mue. On its head it bears a crest different from that of any other bird. It is formed of feathers more than two inches long, very thickly set, and with hairy plumes curving over at the end. These can be laid back so as to be hardly visible, or can be erected and spread out on every side, forming, as has been remarked, " a hemispherical or rather a hemi-ellipsoidal dome, completely covering the head, and even reaching beyond the point of the beak." It inhabits the flooded islands of the Rio Negro and the Solimoes, never appearing on the mainland. It feeds on fruits, and utters a loud, hoarse cry, like some deep musical instrument whence its Indian name, Ueramimbe, " trumpet bird." Near the margin of the Amazon and its tributaries is found the giant of Flora's kingdom, whose dis- covery a few years since is as notable a fact to the naturalist world as the regular opening of steam navigation upon the Amazon is to the commercial world. Of all the Nymphaeacese, the largest, the richest, and the most beautiful, is the marvellous plant which has been dedicated to the Queen of England, and which bears the name of Victoria Regia. It inhabits THE VICTORIA REGIA. 193 the tranquil waters of the shallow lakes formed by the widening of the Amazon and its affluents. Its leaves measure from fifteen to eighteen feet in cir- cumference. Their upper part is of a dark, glossy green; the under portion is of a crimson red, fur- nished with large salient veins, which are cellular VICTORIA REOIA. and full of air, and have the stem covered with elastic prickles. The flowers lift themselves about six inches above the water, and when full blown have a circumference of from three to four feet. The (289) 13 194 ITS DISCOVERY. petals unfold toward evening ; their colour, at first of the purest white, passes in twenty-four hours through successive hues, from a tender rose tinge to a bright red. During the first day of their bloom they exhale a delightful fragrance, and at the end of the third day the flower fades away and replunges beneath the waters, there to ripen its seeds. When matured, these fruit-seeds, rich in fecula, are gathered by the natives, who roast them, and relish them thus prepared. In 1845 an English traveller, Mr. Bridges, as he was following the wooded banks of the Yacouma, one of the tributaries of the Mamore, came to a lake hidden in the forest, and found upon it a colony of Victoria Regias. Carried away by his admiration, he was about to plunge into the water for the pur- pose of gathering some of the flowers, when the Indians who accompanied him pointed to the savage alligators lazily reposing upon the surface. This information made him cautious; but, without abating his ardour, he ran to the city of Santa Anna, and soon obtained a canoe, which was launched upon the lake which contained the objects of his ambition. The leaves were so enormous that he could place but two of them on the canoe, and he was obliged to make several trips to complete his harvest. Mr. Bridges soon arrived in England with the seeds, which he had sown in moist clay. Two of these germinated in the aquarium of the hothouse of Kew. One was sent to the large hothouses of Chatsworth; a basin was prepared to receive it, the temperature was raised, and the plant was placed in its new resting-place on the 10th of August 1849. To- rnKJACANA. 195 ward the end of September, it was necessary to enlarge the basin and to double its size, in order to give space to the leaves which developed with great rapidity. So large did they become that one of them supported the weight of a little girl in upright position. The first bud opened in the beginning of Novem- ber. The flower in bloom was offered by Sir J. Paxton (the celebrated designer of the London Crystal Palace) to his monarch, and the great per- sonages of England hastened to Windsor Castle to admire the beautiful namesake of their gracious sovereign. The name given to this marvellous plant by Lindley was happily chosen ; but the natives of Amazon call it " Uape Japona " the Jacana's oven from the fact that the jacana is often seen upon it. The jacana is a singular spur- winged bird, twice the size of a woodcock, provided with excedingly long and slender toes (from which the French term it the surgeon-bird) which enable it to glide over various water-plants. It inhabits the marshes and woods near the water, and many a time in the in- terior I have seen it stealing over the lily leaves on the margin of rivers. The waters of the great river are scarcely less productive than the soil of its banks. Innumerable species of fish and amphibious animals abound in it. Several kinds of fish are salted and dried for use; but the commerce in this article of food does not extend beyond the coast. Owing to the style of preparation, or to the coarse quality of the fish, foreigners set no value upon it. The most remark- 196 THE FISH-COW. able inhabitant of these waters is the vaca marina, commonly called by the Portuguese peixe boi, or fish cow. This name is evidently given on account of the animal's size, rather than from any resemblance to the ox or cow other than its being mammiferous. THE VACA MARINA, OR FISH-COW. The vaca marina cannot be called amphibious, since it never leaves the water. It feeds principally upon a water-plant (cana bravo) that floats on the borders of the stream. It 'often raises its head above the water to respire, as well as to feed upon this vegetable. At these moments it is attacked and captured. It has only two fins, which are small, and situated near its head. This has been pronounced A SWARM OF FISH. 107 the largest fish inhabiting fresh water ; but, notwith- standing its mammoth dimensions, being, according to various accounts, from eight to seventeen feet long, and two or three feet thick at the widest part, its eyes are extremely small, and the orifices of its ears are scarcely larger than a pin-head. Its skin is very thick and hard, not easily penetrated by a musket-ball. The Indians used to make shields of it for their defence in war. Its fat and flesh have always been in estimation. It served the natives in place of beef. Not having salt for the purpose, they used to preserve the flesh by means of smoke. The following account of the multitude of fish in the Rio Madeira, a tributary of the Amazon, is given by Mr. Nesbitt, chief engineer in one of the Government steamers : " At the falls of the Rio Madeira the traveller will halt and gaze with wonder at the vast multitude of fish of all kinds and sizes from the huge cow-fish to the little sardine struggling with might and main to ascend the foam- ing, dashing current, without the slightest hope of success. Presently some monster will make a dash at a school of his small congeners, when suddenly there will be a cloud of all sorts and sizes leaping in the air, and trying to dodge their ravenous pursuer. All that is necessary for one wishing a fish is to take his canoe paddle and strike right or left, when he is sure to hit he cannot possibly miss. Here are almost always to be found great numbers of Indians collecting, salting, and drying fish. Thepeixe boi is an excellent fish for food. I would almost as soon have it for the table in every shape as the best veal ; indeed, it might be palmed upon the unwary for that 198 GIANT SERPENTS. article. It is also equal to the best dried beef in the estimation of many." The enormous anaconda (Eunectes murinus), or sucurujii of the natives, a serpent belonging to the boa family, inhabits tropical America, and par- ticularly haunts the dense forests near the margin of rivers. The boa-constrictor, the jiboa of the Indians, is smaller and more terrestrial. The first of these creatures which I saw, says Mr. Fletcher, was a young one, belonging to a gentleman in the province of St. Paulo. I afterwards saw one in the province of Rio de Janeiro, that measured twenty-five feet. Mr. Nesbitt, the engineer who took the Peruvian Government steamers to the upper affluents of the Amazon, informed me that he shot on the banks of the Huallaga an anaconda which measured twenty-six feet seven inches. An Italian physician at Campinas (St. Paulo) gave me an account of the manner in which the sucurujii, or anaconda, took his prey. The giant ophidian lies in wait by the river-side, where quadrupeds of all kinds are likely to frequent to quench their thirst. He patiently waits until some animal draws within reach, when, with a rapidity almost incredible, the monster fastens him- self to the neck of his victim, coils round it, and crushes it to death. After the unfortunate animal has been reduced to a shapeless mass by the pressure of the snake, its destroyer prepares to swallow it, by sliming it over with a viscid secretion. When the anaconda has gulped down a heifer (by commencing with the tail and hind feet brought together), he lies torpid for a month, until his enormous meal is Till. ANACONDAS PREY. 100 di irested, and then sallies forth for another. The doctor added that the sucurujii does not attempt the deglutition and digestion of the horns, but that he lets them protrude from his mouth until they fall off by decay. It had been said by some casual observers that the anaconda dies after swallowing a large ANACONDA KILLING DEER. animal, that the buzzards seen near him eat him up; but the doctor added that close observation shows that this statement was entirely erroneous. 200 A STRANGE STORY. As to the amount of credence due to the state- ments of Dr. B., relative to the horns of the swallowed animal, I leave the reader to form his own opinion ; but the facts are incontrovertible in regard to the capacity of the anaconda to swallow animals whose diameter is many times greater than its own. Of all the travellers and explorers whose writings I have read, Wallace and Gardiner are the most moderate in their account as eye-witnesses, and are most particular to record nothing of which they were not fully persuaded after patient and careful investigation. Mr. Wallace says, " It is an undis- puted fact that they devour cattle and horses." In the province of Goyaz, Dr. Gardiner came to the fazenda of Sape, situated at the foot of the Serra de Santa Brida, near the entrance to a small valley. This plantation belonged to Lieutenant Lagoeira. Dr. G. remarks, that in this valley and throughout this province the anaconda attains an enormous size, sometimes reaching forty feet in length, the largest which he saw measured thirty- seven feet, but was not alive. It had been taken under the following circumstances : "Some weeks before our arrival at Sape," writes Dr. Gardiner, " the favourite riding horse of Senhor Lagoeira, which had been put out to pasture not far from the house, could not be found, although strict search was made for it all over the fazenda. Shortly after this, one of his vaqueiros (herdsmen) in going through the wood, by the side of a small stream, saw an enormous sucuruju suspended in the fork of a tree which hung over the water. It was dead, but had evidently been floated down alive by ADVENTURE WITH A BOA. 201 a recent flood, and being in an inert state, it had not been able to extricate itself from the fork before the waters fell. It was dragged out to the open country by two horses, and was found to measure thirty-seven feet in length. On opening it, the bones of a horse, in a somewhat broken condition, and the flesh in a half-digested state, were found within it; the bones of the head were uninjured. From these circumstances we concluded that the boa had swallowed the horse entire. In all kinds of snakes the capacity for swallowing is prodigious. I have often seen one not thicker than my thumb swallow a frog as large as my fist; and I once killed a rattlesnake about four feet long, and of no great thickness, which had swallowed not less than three large frogs. I have also seen a very slender snake that frequents the roofs of houses swallow an entire bat three times its own thickness. If such be the case with these smaller kinds, it is not to be wondered at that one thirty-seven feet long should be able to swallow a horse, particularly when it is known that previously to doing so it breaks the bones of the animal by coiling itself round it, and afterwards lubricates it with a slimy matter, which it has the power of secreting in its mouth." On one occasion, when the sailors from a French ship landed on the coast of Brazil, one of them had a very narrow escape from a boa, which is thus related in the narrative of their adventures : " One day the captain and his adopted son had landed on the coast, and were admiring the glorious trees, and the rich plumage of the birds which were flitting among them, when they heard on a sudden 202 A CRY OF DISTRESS. SAILOR SEIZED BY A BOA. screams and cries of distress, as if from some one in agony. They knew that one of the sailors had landed when they did, as they intended to cut wood for fuel; but they could scarcely believe that the cries were his, for what could have happened to him in such a short time ? I \ STANCE OF TRUE COURAGE. 203 " Richard, with the activity natural to his ajro, i to run at once to the quarter whence the cnes came. lie soon outstripped the captain, although he was running too; and when he reached the place where they had left the sailor, he found him in torture. His face expressed the extreme of agony, his eyes were starting from his head, his hair wa.s standing on end. An enormous serpent, about twenty feet In length, was coiled round his body, and was squeezing him in its folds, so that he could scarcely breathe. " When the courageous boy saw the fearful state of the poor sailor, he hesitated not a moment, but rushing towards the venomous creature with his axe in his hand, he seized the moment when its great head was near him to give it a blow with all his strength. The monstrous head was bent down- wards for a moment by the force of the blow, Richard soon followed it by another, and another, and at length he succeeded in crushing the enormous head. The animal, mortally wounded, losing its strength and its power of injuring, let go by degrees the body of the sailor, who was thus saved from the very jaws of death. " One long hiss announced the death-throes of the monster, 'Well done, my boy!' said the cap- tain, laying his hand on Richard's shoulder ; * very well done! Yours is true courage.' u 'Richard,' said the rescued sailor, offering him his hand, " you have saved me from a terrible death, my life henceforward is yours." "Richard and the sailor continued close and constant friends to their lives' end." CHAPTER XIV. THE MINES OF UPPER PERU. Situation and Productions of Bolivia Maize Chicha QumoaCoca Description of the Coca Bush Cultivation and Uses Silver Mines of Potosi Discovery of the Mine. BOLIVIA, or Upper Peru, is, next to Thibet, the highest country in the world. It was separated from Peru in 1825, and takes its name from its liberator Bolivar. It is a plateau situated to the north of Chili, between two parallel chains of the Cordilleras. It is nine times the size of England, and has a population of 1,600,000, three-fourths of whom are Indians. In Bolivia the Andes are broad and high, and form two ranges, enclosing between them a lofty valley, in the north of which is the large lake Titi- caca, 12,846 feet above the ocean. At such a height the soil is, of course, cold and barren the icy winds descending from the snowy tops of the Andes, and, sweeping over the plains, hinder the growth of vegetation. But in the deep and numerous valleys which intersect the plateau, the soil produces in abundance all the grains and fruits of Europe, BENEFITS OF THE COCA. 205 which were introduced by the Spaniards at the time of the conquest, and also sugar canes, cotton, bana- nas, &c. Maize and potatoes form the principal food of the poorer classes. They eat the maize both roasted and boiled, and are passionately fond of a drink which they make from it called chicha. This chicha is the chief beverage of the country, and contains, it is said, so much nourishment, that the natives can live on it for a long time without any other food. Those who habitually drink the chicha become so fat that they are scarcely able to walk. There is a peculiar kind of grain which has been given by Providence to this country, as it ripens at a very great height above the level of the sea, where neither barley nor oats could thrive. this is the quinoa, a small plant, of which the seeds are eaten, boiled or cooked in various ways, and whose leaves are used as vegetables, and also serve to make a kind of beer. There is another plant of this country which is still more appreciated by the inhabitants, and which is the friend and consolation of the Indian in every trial and difficulty of his life. This is the coca. While he chews his coca-leaves, the poor native forgets all his miseries, his rags, and the cruel treatment of his master. He requires but a single meal in the day, but he needs to stop his work at least three times in order to chew his coca. He believes that it both strengthens him and pro- longs his life, and that it is, besides, a valuable antidote to the bad effects of the rarity of the air in these mountainous regions. The coca is a bush which attains the height of 206 AN USEFUL CROP. six or eight feet, and resembles the black-thorn in its small white flowers and bright green leaves. It is a native of the tropical valleys on the eastern slope of the Andes, and grows wild in many parts of these countries. That which is used by the people, however, is chiefly the produce of cultivation. In the inhabited parts of the valleys it forms an im- portant agricultural crop. Like our common thorn it is raised in seed-beds, from which it is planted out into regularly arranged coca plantations. The steep sides of the valleys, as high up as eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, are often covered with these plantations of coca. The leaves are about the size of those of the cherry-tree, and, when ripe enough to break on being bent, they are collected by the women and children, and dried in the sun. Their taste is not unpleasant; it is slightly bitter and aromatic, and resembles that of green tea of inferior quality. It becomes more piquant and agreeable when a sprinkling of quick- lime or plant-ashes is chewed along witR it. The use of this plant among the Indians of South America dates from very remote periods. When the Spanish conquerors overcame the native races of the hilly country of Peru, they found extensive plantations of coca. The beloved leaf is still, to the Indian of the mountains, the delight, the support, and, in some measure, the necessity of his life. A confirmed chewer of coca is called a " coquero," and he is said to become occasionally more thoroughly a slave to the leaf than the inveterate drunkard is to spirituous liquors. The chewing of coca gives a bad breath, pale lips A LOFTY CITY. 207 and gums, greenish and stumpy teeth, and an ugly black mark at the angles of the mouth. The in- vrti-rate " coquero" is known at the first glance, his unsteady gait, his yellow skin, his dim and sunken eyes, encircled by a purple ring, his quiver- ing lips, and his general apathy, all bear evidence of the baneful effects of the coca juice when taken in excess.* Regions so little attractive as the cold and rugged 1'laU-aux of Bolivia might have possibly been desti- tute of inhabitants had they not possessed an extra- ordinary number of rich gold and silver mines. These are often found at a very great elevation, sometimes as high as the top of the European Alps ; and round these the population have gathered and founded cities. Potosi, the highest city in the world, stands at an elevation of 13,330 feet, at the foot of a mountain celebrated for its silver mines. The top of the mountain rises to a height of 15,200 feet, and is pierced with more than 300 shafts. Since its discovery in 1846, these have produced the almost fabulous sum of 8,000,258,000,000 of francs, chiefly in silver. The mountain of Potosi is very steep, of a conical form, and is about three miles in circumference. It is pierced in every direction ; the passages of the mines are supported by 300 large arches of columns, which, with innumerous furnaces which surround it, offer a brilliant spectacle at night It has been the tomb of many thousands of men, as for a long time 15,000 persons were constantly * From " ChemUtry of Common Life.*' 208 THE MINE OF POTOSL obliged to work there. The veins are now much less productive than formerly. The town of Potosi is situated in a barren country, with a cold climate around it ; nothing is to be seen but bare rocks, here and there covered with moss. The surrounding mountains, inhabited only by a few vicunas and condors, have their summits covered with perpetual snow. Strangers who are not accustomed to the climate often suffer much from the rarity of the air. The population of the town has been naturally regulated by the prosperity of the mines. In 1611 it amounted to about 160,000; but of late years, since the mines were less productive, it has not much exceeded from 10,000 to 12,000. The discovery of the most im- portant mines has often been owing to circumstances quite unexpected, and sometimes very strange. Many singular stories are told about these dis- coveries, not the least remarkable of which relates to the finding of the celebrated mine of Potosi. It is said that an Indian, named Diego Hualea, when scrambling up the mountains, seized hold of a shrub to support himself; it yielded under his weight, was torn up by the roots, and displayed to the eyes of the astonished hunter a mass of silver, of which some pieces were mingled with the earth which was clinging to the roots of the shrub. The Indian made use privately of this inexhaustible treasure ; but his good fortune did not remain long concealed, for his friend Quanca having remarked a great change in his way of life, became curious to know the reason of it. He entreated Hualea to tell him, and succeeded in winning from him the secret of his SILVER MIXES OF POT 210 A CURIOUS STORY. riches. For some time this secret was well kept, but Hualea having refused to teach his friend the way to purify the metal, Quanca told the whole story to Villareas, his master, who resided at Porco. Villareas immediately went to examine the place on the 21st of April 1545; the mine was opened, and has continued to be worked ever since. Another curious story is told of the discovery of the celebrated silver mines of Pasco, which are situated on the south-east of the lake of Lauriocha, one of the sources of the great river Amazon. About two hundred and thirty years ago an Indian was keeping the flocks of his master on a little plain situated in these high regions. One day, having wandered further than usual from his hut, he felt bitterly cold. He took shelter under a high rock, and kindled a good fire to warm himself, near which he fell asleep. Great was his surprise on awaking to find that the stone on which he had kindled the fire was melted arid changed into pure silver. He immediately hastened to tell his master of this strange adventure. Without losing a moment, Ugarte (for so the Spaniard was called) accompanied his shepherd to the favoured spot, and discovered the existence of an extremely rich vein of silver, which he hastened to work, and from which he derived immense revenues. This valuable mine is not yet exhausted. No sooner had the news of this event become known in the country, than a great number of the inhabitants of Pasco, only two leagues distant, hastened to the spot, sought, and found new veins. This mine was so rich that it has collected and maintains a population of 18,000. MA KIM: A FORT V NT. 211 The ground upon which Cerro de Pasco lias been built resembles a fine net-work of silver veins. If a hole is dug almost anywhere, silver is almost certain to be discovered. Some of the inhabitants are even said to work a private mine in the cellars of their houses. But the mining is, in general, done both irregularly and imprudently, in consequence of which the shafts and galleries often fall in and bury the unfortunate Indian miners under heaps of earth and stones. In the mine of Matagente alone, now entirely destroyed, more than 300 workmen have lost their lives. It is well named, as the word Matagente means literally kill people. It is said also that, in another part of America, a poor Spaniard, entirely destitute and flying from jus- tice, was one day swimming across a river to escape from the alguazils who were in pursuit of him. Just as he reached the opposite bank of the river, his eyes fell upon a vein of silver in the rock, which had been laid bare by the constant action of the water on the bank. He understood at a glance all the advantages that he might gain from this dis- covery ; and without delay he hastened to return to his native place, surrendered himself to justice, and submitted to the sentence pronounced against him. Then, after a certain time of imprisonment, he went back to the place where he had discovered the vein of silver, and began the working of a mine, which soon made him one of the richest proprietors in the country. Several of the mines in the Upper Cordilleras have yielded silver to an almost incredible amount. One of these was the mine of San Jose, in the de- 212 SPANIAftDS AND INDIANS. partment of Huanvelica, in Peru. The proprietor of this mine requested his friend, the Spanish gover- nor Castro, to be the godfather of his first child. The viceroy, not being able to be absent from his post, sent his wife in his stead. The proprietor of San Jose caused the road between his house and the church (not a short distance) to be laid with a triple row of ingots of silver ; and, on the departure of the vice-queen, he presented to her all the silver that had been used in making this singular avenue, as a testimony of his gratitude for the honour she had done him. The poor Indians were not long in finding out that they gained nothing by the discovery of the mines, since they were obliged to labour very hard, and received almost nothing for their work ; and it often cost them their lives. It is said that this was the fate of the Indian who first discovered the mine of Cerro de Pasco ; for his master, Ugarte, so far from being grateful to him for his valuable information, threw the poor man into a dungeon, where he died. Therefore, although the existence of numerous veins of silver was known to several Indians, they did all they could to guard the secret from the knowledge of Europeans. Such secrets were often transmitted from father to son for a long course of years. A Franciscan monk, of Huanacayo, who was an incorrigible gambler, and always short of money, had yet gained the affection of the Indians by his kindness and good nature to them ; and they very often brought him small presents of cheese and poultry. One day, that he had lost a large sum of A DEVICE DISCOVERED. 213 money at play, he made known his difficulties to an Indian in whom he had confidence. This man pro- mised to help him ; and the next evening he brought him a sack filled with the richest silver ore. This present was several times repeated ; but the insatiable monk was still anxious for more, and entreated the Indian to tell him where he got so much treasure. After being often asked, the Indian yielded at length to his importunities. He went one night, accompanied by two others, to the Franciscan's house, bandaged his eyes, took him upon his shoulders, and, being assisted in carrying him by his companions in turn, he conveyed him to a considerable distance among the mountains. At length he set him down, un- bound his eyes, and told him to look. The monk found himself in a small shaft, of no great depth; but his eyes were perfectly dazzled with the riches surrounding him. His curiosity being satisfied, he was permitted to fill a sack as well as he could, and his eyes having been again bandaged, he was con- veyed home in the same way in which he had come. As he was carried along, he dropped from time to time a bead of his rosary, hoping that by means of these he might be able next day to trace the way to the mine. But two hours had scarcely passed after he had gone to bed, dreaming of untold riches, when his brilliant visions were disturbed by his guide : My father," said the Indian quietly, "you have lost your rosary!" and, so saying, he handed to the monk a handful of his beads. CHAPTER XY. PEKU. Extent and Productions Guano Dangers of Travelling Poisoned Springs Storms among the Mountains Peruvian Bridges Encounter with a Tiger Wonderful Escape. PERU, a country in South America, lying north of Bolivia (which at one time formed part of it), is composed of high table-land, having, on one side, immense forests and grass-covered plains, and, on the other, towards the Pacific Ocean, a skirting of barren, sandy shores. The vegetation is not so luxuriant as in some other parts of America, although the watered valleys, orange-trees, bana- nas and citrons as large as oaks, are not uncommon, Indian corn, varieties of wheat, the finest potatoes in the world, and excellent tapioca, are extensively cultivated. These, however, are not the productions which we usually associate with the name of Peru. The word calls up ideas of rich mines of gold and other metals; and it is true that for many centuries this country furnished Spain with fabulous revenues. But things have changed; and many of our readers will hardly believe that the guano which fleets of THE PRECIOUSNESS OF GUANO. 215 ships carry away from its shores is immensely more valuable than all the gold and silver mines in its possession. Every evening, at sunset, innumerable multitudes of frigate-birds, petrels, gannets, pelicans, &c., may be seen perched on the rocks which border the small islands or shores of this, part of America; and the droppings and other remains of these birds, mixed with masses of decayed fish, form the guano, which is one of the richest manures known, and much sought after by agriculturists, both in England and the United States. It is found in greatest abundance on the Chincha Islands, off the coast of Peru, where the deposits are sometimes twenty and thirty feet thick; and this natural wealth, which costs nothing but the trouble of gathering and carrying away, has yielded to Peru about two millions, while the exportation of metals has scarcely exceeded a third of the sum. When we remember how necessary manure is for agriculture, we can understand why enterprizing men go to the other side of the globe in search of it, and why it is more valued in our day than the productions of gold mines. Even that part of Peru which lies along the coast is very hilly. The valleys are little more than ravines, and the rivers are impetuous torrents, rushing in num- berless cascades towards the sea. But however diffi- cult or dangerous a journey in the maritime provinces may appear, it is only an agreeable promenade com- pared with an excursion into the interior. Along the shores there is nothing to be feared but fatigue, the sun, the sand, and robbers; but an expedition to tho mountains includes such a variety of dangers, which 216 POISONED WATERS. even the natives shrink from encountering, that it is difficult to conceive where travellers could be found willing to brave them. When such a journey is under- taken, the traveller must be prepared to risk his life at almost every step, and to depend on the provi- dence of God for protection and deliverance. Dangers from avalanches, precipices, and glaciers are com- mon to all mountainous countries; but, besides these, travellers in the Andes have to guard against pecu- liar diseases even the loss of sight. Dr von Tschudi, well known by his remarkable work on the Alps, relates that, one day after a long journey through one of the valleys leading from the sea to the mountains, he stopped to refresh himself and his mule at a spring, and was in the act of drinking, when an Indian called out, " Take care! that water is poisoned ! " and, to his disappointment, he was compelled to remount without having tasted it; for, if he had done so, he would certainly have had an attack of fever, and perhaps have died in consequence. At some places the valley which we passed through, says Dr. von Tschudi, was merely a narrow cleft be- tween two precipitous rocks, 500 or 600 feet high, whose summits sometimes inclined and touched each other, so as to form a kind of natural arch. A narrow and dangerous path, watered by the foaming waves of a torrent, ran along their base, or rather their steep sides. When not quite perpendicular, the slopes were covered with threatening masses of rock, which, becoming gradually loosened, often fall into the val- ley, driving everything before them. While passing through this ravine, one of these immense blocks MOUNTAIN MALADII & 217 rolled down, and, striking one of my mules, threw him into the torrent, carrying away my instruments, some of my principal travelling utensils, and part of my papers and collections; and, in the inn at Viso, I met an officer, who told me he had set out from San Mateo, riding with his two sons, the one be- fore and the other behind him, and, when about six miles from Viso, a piece of rock fell down, and, striking the eldest, a child of ten years old, plunged him into the torrent. But these are not the only dangers which tra- vellers in the high regions of the Cordilleras have to fear. At the height of 9000 or 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, they experience the most pain- ful sensations are often seized with fainting and bleeding at the eyes, nose, and mouth. This malady is called puna by the natives, and veto, or mareo (from its resemblance to sea sickness) by the Spanish Creoles, who in their ignorance attribute it to the exhalations from metals ; but the real cause is to be found in the rarefaction of the air. Another disease is the surumpe, a violent inflam- mation of the eyes, caused by the reflection of the sun upon the snow. In these regions the rarity of the air and the violence of the wind keep the eyes in a state of constant irritation. The sky becomes suddenly darkened with clouds, which is followed by a heavy fall of snow ; the clouds disappear as quickly as they came, and the sun shines out again in all its brilliancy. Almost immediately the tra- veller feels an acute pain in his eyes, as if a fire burned within. The eyes become red, the eyelids swell and bleed, and the pain becomes so intense 218 SUSPENSION BRIDGES. that delirium comes on, and is in many instances followed by death. Spectacles and green veils are an excellent precaution against this malady. During five months in the year, from November to March, scarcely a day passes without a storm on these mountains. It commences almost invariably between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, and continues till five or half-past five, and never later than six. Generally a good deal of snow falls while it lasts, but the sun of the following day rapidly thaws it. For several hours the flashes of lightning follow so rapidly upon one another as to tinge the mountain cataracts with the hue of blood. The thunder rumbles incessantly, and the lightning flashes along the ground, leaving long furrows in the burned grass behind it. The traveller over- taken by these terrific tempests is glad to leave his frightened mule to herself, and seek a shelter unde* some overhanging rock. But we must not forget in our enumeration of the dangers of a journey in Peru the suspension bridges and huaros. The bridges are constructed of four thick strips of cow hides, which are fastened to posts, fixed on the banks of the river or torrent. A plaiting of smaller strips, covered with branches of trees, straw, and roots, is laid upon these. Two other strips, placed at about three feet high, serve for balustrades, and the traveller, leading his stub- born mule by the bridle, is obliged to cross upon this unsteady platform, which swings like a ham- mock, often at a great height above the water. The crossing of a river in a huaros is still more unplea- sant. A rope is stretched from one bank to the ADVENTURE WITH A TIGRESS. 219 other, to which a rough wooden seat is fastened, ami by the aid of a second rope the seat with the travellers on it is drawn across. If the rope should happen to break, he will to a certainty be drowned. Sometimes the two banks of a torrent are so very close to one another, that travellers who have con- Gdenot in their mules leap over at the risk of their lives. Dr. von Tschudi had also dangers to fear from encounters with wild beasts. One day, on the very spot where he was going to sit down, he discovered, and at last succeeded in killing, a little black ser- pent, whose sting is said to be so very poisonous that it is useless to try any remedy. Another time a gigantic condor pounced upon a sheep which had just been killed, and tried to carry it off, and the doctor had considerable difficulty in defending him- self with his hatchet. On another occasion his life w.-is threatened by a tigress, and it was entirely owing, under Providence, to his composure and pre- sence of mind that he was enabled to preserve it. Fatigued, he says, by a long journey, he had just sat down under the shade of a tree, laying his musket, which was his constant companion, by his side. Suddenly his eyes fell upon some plants which he had not seen before, and on rising to examine them with all the enthusiasm of a botanist, his attention was attracted by a rustling among the leaves of the trees. lie turned round to find out the cause, and suddenly a tigress, with two cubs playing about her, started up between him and the tree where he had left his weapon. At sight of him the wild animal stopped, and uttered a dull kind of 220 AN AWKWARD POSITION. roar ; the little cubs stopped at the same time, as if astonished at the novelty of the object. Dr. T. knew that a tigress never appears so formidable as when she requires to defend her young ; and finding himself without arms, confronted with such a terrible animal, a shudder of terror passed over him, and for an instant he gave himself up to despair; but soon recovering his courage and presence of mind, he re- solved to try the power of his eyes, and fixing them upon those of the tigress, endeavoured to hinder her from advancing. Strange to say, the expedient suc- ceeded beyond all his expectation, and the animal, as if riveted to the spot, did not come one single step nearer. But her cubs, not knowing the danger, darted forward, and gambolled about his legs. The sight of this disturbed the tigress, which began to roar and lash her sides violently with her tail, ready to rush upon the traveller if he dared to touch her little ones. At that instant the doctor, still keeping his eyes upon the mother, stooped down, and pass- ing his hand over the back of the young tigers, who seemed to appreciate the caress as much as if they had been little kittens, noticed that the ferocious animal was not insensible to the marks of regard lavished on her offspring. Her growling ceased, and she resumed her attitude of calm curiosity. The two cubs, impelled by their playful and frolic- some humour, darted off again from the traveller, biting and chasing each other, and straying beyond sight or hearing of their mother. She became anxious about them, and turned her head slowly as if inclined to follow them. Taking advantage of this moment, Dr. T. got behind a bush, which concealed A " GOOD RIDDANCE." 221 him from the tigress, and by a short detour reached the place where he had left his gun, and prepared to use it if necessary against the formidable inhabitant of the forest. But it was in vain that he followed on her track ; tigers and tigress had disappeared, and it may be believed that he did not much regret their absence. CHAPTER XVI. THE THREE REPUBLICS I ECUADOR, NEW GRANADA, AND VENEZUELA. Description of the Country Earthquakes Productions Pearl Fishery Value of Pearls Pearl Divers Dangers and Labours of the Divers A Shark Overhead. ANCIENT Colombia, which occupied in the north- west of South America all the territory between the Isthmus of Panama and Peru, is now divided into three independent republics, that of Venezuela, of which we shall afterwards speak; that of New Granada, to the south of the Isthmus ; and that of Ecuador, or the Equator, the name of which suffi- ciently indicates its geographical position. The greater part of the country in the two last mentioned states is singularly steep and hilly, rent by deep ravines, so difficult to cross, that it is im- possible in many places to make any kind of road for beasts of burden, and rich people are accustomed to travel seated in chairs carried on men's backs. With this heavy burden the hardy mountaineers scramble up terrific precipices and across frightful ravines, which but for them would be quite inacces- sible. BRIDGES OF ICONOZO. CHAPTER XVI. THE THREE REPUBLICS : ECUADOR, NEW GRANADA, AND VENEZUELA. Description of the Country Earthquakes Productions Pearl Fishery Value of Pearls Pearl Divers Dangers and Labours of the Divers A Shark Overhead. ANCIENT Colombia, which occupied in the north- west of South America all the territory between the Isthmus of Panama and Peru, is now divided into three independent republics, that of Venezuela, of which we shall afterwards speak ; that of New Granada, to the south of the Isthmus ; and that of Ecuador, or the Equator, the name of which suffi- ciently indicates its geographical position. The greater part of the country in the two last mentioned states is singularly steep and hilly, rent by deep ravines, so difficult to cross, that it is im- possible in many places to make any kind of road for beasts of burden, and rich people are accustomed to travel seated in chairs carried on men's backs. With this heavy burden the hardy mountaineers scramble up terrific precipices and across frightful ravines, which but for them would be quite inacces- sible. BRIDGES OF ICONOZO. 224 NATURAL BRIDGES. There are several remarkable natural wonders to be seen amidst the bold and picturesque scenery of this country. Such, for example, as the celebrated bridges of Iconozo, formed by enormous blocks of rock, which have fallen across a ravine 125 yards in depth, through which rushes a foaming torrent. One of these bridges, situated a little lower down than the other, is formed of three enormous rocks, which have fallen so as mutually to support each other, the middle one forming a kind of keystone to the natural arch. In another place, one of the rivers of this country the Rio de Bogota throwing itself into one of the ravines common in this part of the Andes, forms the waterfall of Tequendama, one of the most beautiful in the world, which falls a height of at least 230 yards, and is always crowned with a column of vapour, which is seen at the distance of more than twelve miles. Another cause of wonder and fear to the traveller in these regions are the numerous and terrible volcanoes, whose eruptions have often caused the most dreadful devastation. In 1797 a whole district, to the extent of 125 miles in length, and 88 in breadth, was literally torn up and entirely desolated. Forty thousand persons lost their lives at Quito and in the neighbouring cities. At the time of the erup- tion of 1803, the sudden melting of the snows which covered the summit of Cotopaxi caused terrible de- vastation. In 1768 the ashes of this volcano dark- ened the air to a distance of 65 miles. At another time the flames rose 1000 yards in height above the crater; and on other occasions its terrible roar- RESOURCES OF THE COUNTRY. 225 ing was beard at 120 miles, or even 480 miles dis- tance. If it were not that man gets accustomed to everything, even to the most dreadful dangers, no one could live in this country without suffering from constant terror and alarm. The climate of the high plateaux, situated on the equator, ought to have the pleasant temperature of perpetual spring, and such was formerly the reputa- tion of the city of Quito, in particular ; but it ap- pears that this is much modified in consequence of the terrible earthquakes which have marked the end of the last century. In the plains which lie on the sea-coast, or at the foot of the mountains, the heat in summer is often stifling, the climate unhealthy, and yellow fever frequent. The principal productions of this country are ex- cellent cocoa, vanilla, bark, tobacco, indigo, cotton, several kinds of balm, and lastly, the cow-tree, from which flows, when it is cut, a white and abun- dant beverage, of an agreeable taste, not unlike milk. The mines furnish a small quantity of gold, sil- ver, platina, emeralds, known by the name of Peru- vian emeralds, salt, and a little quicksilver. The population, which is not very numerous, is composed of whites, of Spanish origin, of Indians, placed in a dependent position, although not actually slaves, half-bloods, and a small number of negroes. The principal cities of the Republic of Ecuador are Quito, the capital of the state, said to contain 70,000 inhabitants, situated about 9540 feet above the level of the sea, in a country which produces the best cocoa in the world and Guayaquil, a busy (289) 15 228 OYSTERS AND PEARLS. The age of a common oyster can be told by count- ing the successive layers of plates overlapping each other. These are technically called " shoots," and each of them makes a year's growth, so that it is easy to know how long the creature has lived. When the oyster is young, the " shoots " are regu- lar and successive, but as it gets old they become irregular, and are piled over one another. The increase of the shell of the pearl oyster pro- bably takes place in the same way. The number of oysters which contain pearls, or at least pearls of any value, is comparatively small; but the shells of all are of some use, as they are all lined with a substance of the same nature as pearls, called mother of pearl, of which buttons, the handles of penknives, small boxes, paper knives, and various other articles and toys are made. The outer or coarser parts of the shell are taken off by means of sharp cutting instruments, or with a file, and the inner layers are then formed into many ornamental trifles. The most valuable pearls are those which are perfectly round or pear shaped. In Europe white pearls are preferred, but in the East they prefer the yellow, the pink, or the black; the last are ex- tremely rare. A fine necklace composed of pearls about the size of a pea, would cost from about 150 to 300 ; but a necklace of pearls about the size of grains of pepper might not cost more than from 15 to 20. One of the most celebrated pearls is one in the crown of Spain, which was given to King Philip II. It was oval, and of the size of a pigeon's egg, and was valued at 80,000 ducats. A pearl which Pliny DIVING FOR PEARLS. valued at about 100,000 of our money, Cleopatra is said to have dissolved at a banqiu-t, where she drank it off to Anthony's health, not to be outdone by him in extravagance. In Panama every person in easy circumstances has two or three negroes, or Indians, who dive to procure pearls for their masters. These divers, trained to the trade from their earliest years, are sent to the islands of the bay, where tents and boats are kept in readiness for them. Eighteen or twenty of the poor creatures, good swimmers, and able to hold in their breath, are placed under the orders of an inspector, and they go out to sea in the boats, till they reach a place where there is a bed of oys- ters at a depth of not more than ten, twelve, or fif- teen fathoms. When they have fixed on a favourable spot, they cast anchor ; the negroes, or Indians, fasten a rope round their bodies, and load themselves with a small weight to enable them to go down more easily. They then throw themselves into the water, and when they reach the bottom they tear off the oys- ters. They take one under each arm, one in each hand, and a fifth in the mouth, and, thus loaded, they ascend again to take breath and throw the oysters into the boats. As soon as they have taken breath they dive again, and so continue till they are quite exhausted, or till they think that they have collected a sufficient number of oysters. Their task ended, each negro opens his own oys- ters in the presence of the inspector, and gives him all the pearls, small or great, perfect or imperfect, which they contain, till the number is complete 230 A PERILOUS TASK. which he is obliged to give to his master. If any remain, they belong to the diver himself, who may do what he likes with them ; he generally sells them to the person who employs him. The labour of these poor men is very pain- ful. When they remain long under water blood often gushes from their nostrils and ears ; some- times they are struck with apoplexy immediately on coming up. But the danger they dread most is falling into the jaws of the shark. If one of these formidable enemies is known to be near, its presence completely puts a stop to the fishing for the time. On these coasts, as well as on the coast of Cali- fornia, it is usual for the divers to carry with them a small stick about nine inches in length, pointed with iron at both ends. Armed with this, an experienced diver is often successful in a contest with the shark. He holds the stick by the middle, and when he is attacked by the monster, he seizes the moment when it opens its terrible jaws to plunge the sharp iron point into its mouth. A native of the country, called Don Pablo Ochon, who was for many years the superintendent of the fishery, and who was himself a practised diver, re- lates the following adventure, which he says hap- pened to him in one of his submarine excursions. He had been told of a reef, on which it was said that a great number of large oysters might be found, and after a good deal of trouble he succeeded in dis- covering it. Hoping to pick up some fine specimens of shells, Don Pablo dived to a depth of eleven fathcms. The rock was not more than one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards in circumference. ANECDOTE OF A PEARL DIVER. 231 TI.- -\vnrn round it and examined it without seeing anything to induce him to prolong his stay under water. As there were no oysters to be seen, he wa* preparing to ascend, and lie looked up, as divers generally do, to be sure that no monster is watching them. When Don Pablo raised his eyes 1 DIVER AND KIIARK. he saw a tintorero (a species of shark) standing sentinel over him, a few yards above his hoad, which had probably been watching him from the time he plunged into the water. The size of this monster was so great that it was useless to think of defending himself with his pointed stick, for the horrible creature had a mouth that could have swallowed both stick and man at one mouth- ful. Don Pablo felt ill at ease when he saw his 232 A SHARK OVERHEAD. retreat so completely cut off; but in the water there is not much time for reflection ; he swam, therefore, as quick as he could towards another point of the rock, hoping thus to deceive the vigilance of his enemy. Imagine his horror when he again saw it hovering over his head, like a falcon watching a little bird. The shark rolled its great fiery eyes, and opened and closed its formidable jaws in such a way that for long after the very remembrance of it made Don Pablo tremble. The unfortunate diver saw only two alternatives before him to be drowned or to be eaten. He had been so long under water that he could not keep in his breath any longer, and he was on the point of rising to breathe even at the risk of his life, when he remembered all at once that he had seen some sand on one of the sides of the rock. He swam thither with all imaginable speed, always escorted by his attentive enemy. As soon as he reached the point he intended, he began to raise clouds of sand with his pointed stick, which made the water so dark and muddy that the man and the fish lost sight of each other. Then profiting by the darkness which he had raised, Don Pablo ascended as speedily as he could in an oblique direction, and reached the surface safe and sound, but completely exhausted. Happily he came up very near one of the boats, and the boatmen seeing him in such a pitiful state, guessed that he had escaped by some manosuvre from an enemy. They accordingly used the ordi- nary means to frighten away the monster, and Don Pablo was drawn into the boat in safety, but more dftad tlmn alive. CHAPTER XVII. EARTHQUAKE IN QUITO. Volcanoes near Quito Desolation caused by them Eruption of Cotopaxl Story of a Sufferer His Former Prosperity A Sudden and Terrible Storm. THE city of Quito, the capital of the Republic of Ecuador, is situated in the Valley of Quito, one of the finest in the Andes. It is 200 miles long and 30 wide ; has a mean elevation above the sea of 10,000 feet, and is bounded by the most magnificent series of volcanic mountains in the new world. It enjoys perpetual spring, is covered with orchards and fruitful fields, scattered villages and numerous flocks and herds, while the high peaks of the colossal mountains surrounding it are covered with perpetual snow. Highest among these rises the celebrated Chimborazo. Many of the summits of the Andes near Quito are volcanoes ; and smoke and very often flames may be seen issuing from the midst of the snow. Among the most celebrated of these volcanoes are Cay- ambe*, whose majestic summit is exactly on the equator ; Cotopaxi, the most formidable of all the 234 TEERIBLE CATASTROPHES. American volcanoes ; Pichincha and Antisana, the highest volcanoes in the world. The city of Quito is situated at the base of Pichincha, at a height of 9540 feet above the level of the sea. In such a neighbourhood it is easy to imagine that the inhabi- tants of the town and country often suffer frightful disasters from the frequent eruptions of the subter- ranean fire. In 1797 the earth was disturbed and literally upturned, to an extent of 50 leagues in length, and 35 in breadth, and 40,000 persons lost their lives in Quito and the neighbouring towns. At the time of the eruption of 1803, the sudden melt' ing of the snows which covered the sides of Goto- paxi caused terrible desolation. The flames some- times rises 3000 feet above the top of this volcano, and its roar has been heard at a distance of 150 miles. A very interesting history of one of the poor suf- ferers in the terrible earthquakes that often happen in Quito, is told by Mr. Mason, who says that he saw the unfortunate man brought before the magis- trates in Mexico, and in his defence the unhappy creature gave a touching account of his sufferings : He was a miserably feeble object, scarcely covered by fluttering, many-coloured rags, and his sunken face was almost blackened by heat and ex- cessive exposure to the weather. The accusation against him was twofold, he had feloniously in- troduced himself, a foreigner into the country with- out license, carta del seguridad; and having sub- sisted in a precarious manner on charity during many months, had satisfied his hunger at length unlawfully at the expense of others. I was deeply OUTBURST OF THE TEMPEST. 235 moved (says Mr. Mason) by his appearance, and still more by the faltering accents and tone of angui.-h in which the details of his defence were delivered. I am a native of Quito," he said (I give his story in a more connected form than his own in re- lating it), " and would to Heaven I were in my native country at this moment ; for I love it dearly, tempestuous and dangerous as it is. Time there passed joyously with me; I was prosperous and in- dependent : I had my one-storey cottage (all the houses there are low, having the whole of their apartments on the ground) and it was well stored with tenants and provisions. Health and friends, family and position, fields, orchards and cattle, all were mine. But I must not allude to them, or my heart will burst ! "The land of my birth as perhaps you know, Senores is nearly 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and is liable to the most awful earthquake and tornadoes. The hamlet in which I resided had several times suffered from these causes ; often had our dwellings been unroofed and partially scattered to the winds, and our fruit-trees torn up by the roots ; and even whole woods of trees, huge rocks, and entire houses, had altogether disappeared. It was long, however, since such an occurrence had taken place amongst us ; and we lived on without apprehension of coming evils. " But in one night, without any warning beyond an unusual redness in the sky, the horrible and de- stroying tempest burst upon us. All that was ever told of the loudest thunder, all that was ever seen of the most vivid lightning, would fail to picture 236 AN AWFUL SCENE. the terrific visitation of that night. The earth shook and groaned, and opened wide beneath us and around us. Forests of gigantic trees were uprooted and tossed high in air, to meet in fearful shocks, and be driven down again upon the ground. Rocks were riven and swallowed up in yawning chasms, or scattered into fragments and dispersed like hail be- fore the tearing wind. Fields of spreading corn were cut to pieces and set on fire by the lightning ; while the thunder of the clouds seemed to find an echo in the vibrating earth below. Cattle were lifted from their feet and dashed down precipices, or were hurried off before the blast to perish in the sea far away. Sheds and buildings were scattered about on every side, or crushed by falling rocks, and together with their inmates were ground to dust in the convulsion. Human bodies were hurled into the air, and driven from point to point, until they found a grave fathoms deep below the ground. Blue and yellow flames burst from the edges of sink- ing rocks ; while hot springs of water gushed up- wards from sulphureous caverns. Shrieks and howls from dying animals, awful in themselves were drowned in the overwhelming uproar. "Rain poured down in torrents, and pillars of steaming vapour seemed to unite both earth and sky. Thick dark- ness reigned but for a moment, as sheet after sheet of vivid lightning made the horizon visible, and cast a burning distinctness over the whole scene. Oh, what a time it was ! Words cannot express what an awful time it was ! " My own house was one of the first destroyed ; it was shivered to pieces in an instant, and the STORY OF A WANDi:i:n:. whole of its inhabitants were either buried among its ruins, or violently precipitated on the rocks. I was whirled into a yawning cavity, where I long lay insensible ; I felt it rock and tremble fearfully when I recovered, but fortunately it closed not no other member of my family survived. On the morn- ing of the next day, when the earth had ceased to vibrate, and the storm had spent its strength, I feebly rose from my retreat, and sen relied \\ith a stricken heart among the ruins and bodies around me. Judge of my feelings at discovering no trace of any one who had been dear to me, and that I was the only human being who had been preserved alive ! " Since that period I have been desolate and a wanderer. As an alleviation to my misery I re- solved to travel to other countries. I have kept my vow ; I have toiled on in difficulty and destitution, even northwards to this place, and there I think my wanderings will soon be ended." Of the remainder of this poor wayfarer's defence how he accounted for having eluded the officers nt the city gates, and pleaded guilty to the charge of theft while in want, I took no notes; nor how the tears fell in torrents from his cheeks in the course of his narrative, insomuch that the adminis- tradores themselves were visibly affected. The scene closed by his committal to the prison of the Accordada ; and he would have but little cause remembering the wretehcd and uncertain liie he had BO lately led to regret the circumstance. CHAPTER XVIII. v THREE DAYS IN A TEEE. The Extensive Plains Called Llanos The Plains on Fire A Voyage on the Orinoco A Night In a Mango Tree Imprisoned In the Tree- Unpleasant Visitors A Jaguar at the Foot of the Tree A Fearful Conflict The Fate of the Jaguar Sufferings in the Tree Despair A Gleam of Hope Deliverance. THE part of South America which lies on the coast of the Sea of the Antilles which is watered by the great river Orinoco, and whose principal towns are Caracas, Maracaibo, and Cumana, now bears the name of the Republic of Venezuela. On the coast the country is undulating and hilly, and the scenery is varied; it is very fertile, produces excellent chocolate, indigo, tobacco, cotton, and coffee, bark and sarsaparilla two valuable medicines and wood for building, cabinet-making, and dyeing. The population is composed of Creoles of Spanish origin, of negroes formerly slaves, of half-bloods, and native Indians. The most singular characteristic feature of the Republic of Venezuela are the immense plains which lie on both sides of the great river Orinoco, and which are known by the name of llanos. Not a hill, not a single tree arrests the eye over all these vast plains, THE AMERICAN LLASOS. 239 and the only rising grounds arc platforms of rocks a li-w feet in height, on wliich the herds find refuge during the inundations. The aspect of the country changes with every season of the year. After the rainy season, when the plain is almost entirely under water, the grass springs up green, fresh, and abundant, to a height of seven or ten feet ; and when its tall stems are shaken by the breeze, they uave like the billows of the ocean, and seem like a stormy sea of green. In the heat of summer the herbage gets yellow and withered, the springs dry up, and there is no verdure except upon the banks of the rivers, to which the herds resort for coolness and shade. The heat in summer is overwhelming, and the glare of light fatigues the weary eyes of the travel- ler, who is often the dupe of the illusions of the mirage; clouds of dust rise from the parched soil, whose poisoned breath sometimes stifles and kills the animals in thousands. At length autumn comes to afford some relief, and it is then necessary to I >urn the dry herbage in order to obtain a fine, fn-.-h carpet of green turf in the spring. The grass is set on fire in several places at the same time, and it is scarcely possible for any one who has not seen it to imagine the magnificent spectacle of a sea of fire which destroys all on its path, and supplies an abundant feast to the vultures of a number of ser- pents, frogs, and other small animals which are overtaken and killed by the flames. The only occupation of the people of tin- is the care of their large herds of cattle. Kacb great proprietor possesses fifteen, twenty, fifty, or 240 THE KIVER ORINOCO. even one hundred leagues of savannas, and from twenty to fifty thousand head of cattle and horses. These animals are descended from the original stock brought into the country by the Spaniards a short time after their conquest of it, and their numbers have immensely increased, notwithstand- ing frequent epidemics, inundations, and the attacks of wild beasts, by which many are destroyed every year. The sale of horses and cattle, or rather of tallow and leather (for the flesh is scarcely reckoned as worth anything), is the chief source of income of the thinly-scattered population who inhabit the banks of the Orinoco and its tributaries. This large and beautiful river is an easy mode of transport for those who wish to travel from one extremity to another of the vast plain through which it flows. But its navigation is not always free from danger, as the following story will show : On the 20th of April, says a traveller, we em- barked on the Orinoco, an immense sheet of water, framed (if we may use the expression) in a succession of landscapes of the most rare and marvellous beauty. It was near the end of the hot season, the waters of the river were very low, and we could perceive, at little distances along the banks, openings through the thick copsewood, which had been made by different kinds of animals as their paths to the river, to quench their thirst or to seek their prey. Along the river's brink on both sides we saw enormous crocodiles lying lazily basking in the sun. After we had stopped at several places on the river, and had disposed of nearly all our merchan- A PLEASANT VOY A 241 disc, not without two or three skirmi.-hcs with tho robbers of these parts, on the 10th of May, about the beginning of the rainy season, we came in sight of a small island, or rather rock of granite, which rose perpendicularly out of the waters; and near it we moored our little vessel as we thought that there the jaguars (or tigers of these countries) could not reach us. When our vessel was safely moored, I threw myself into the water and swam to the rocky islet. Having scrambled to the top of it, I could reach with my hand some of the lower branches of a magnificent mango tree. I drew down one of the largest of these, which dragged down along with it several others; and their elasticity, as they bounded back, lifted me suddenly from the rock on whii-h I stood, and carried me up into the midst of the triant tree. u What a delicious night," thought I, " might I pass here, in this fresh green bower, out of the reach of the jaguars!" My resolution was soon taken. I called my " Zambos" (half Negroes half Indians.) They brought my hammock, and In- fixed it up in the midst of the branches, they left me, promising to return the next day at sun-rise. I was very much fatigued. I soon fell asleep, and nothing disturbed my repose. When I again opened my eyes, I became con- scious of a feeling of extreme pain. I was wet to the skin. There had been a great deal of rain in the night, and the leather of my hammock having stretched, I found myself imprisoned in a kind of wet sack. I tried to free myself from my prison, and contrived to rise and look round me. A thick (289) 16 242 A. PRISONER IN A TREE. hid the face of the sun; when I looked down I could not see the ground neither earth nor sky was visible water, nothing but water everywhere; no vessel, no Zambos to be seen the sudden rising of the river had covered the solitary rock, near which our boat had been moored. I was then a prisoner in my tree ; but as it was neither a banana tree nor a bread-fruit tree, it could supply me with nothing to eat, if pressed by hunger, but the leaves and young shoots. A sad prospect for a poor creature whose limbs were stiffened by cold and damp, and who already felt the cravings of a keen appetite Robinson Crusoe, in his island, was much better off than I was. In order to divert my mind a little from my sad thoughts, I began to explore my new domain. I crept along the thick branches of the tree, which were so numerous and so closely interwoven, as to afford me a solid sup- port. On a sudden, two fiery eyes glittered through the leaves, and I saw before me the animal for which from my childhood I have had the most in- tense aversion an enormous lizard of the species called iguana! This harmless creature gave me a horrible fright, and I retreated backwards, along the branch on which I was creeping ; but to my great annoyance I met with a second iguana, whose radiant tail was describing superb spirals in the air. Fascinated, if I may call it so, by the sight of these reptiles, I could not take my eyes away from them, and I continued to watch their movements with the most uneasy attention. Imagine the horror of my situation : fever seized me. Seated upon a forked branch of the tree, with my aching head sup- A PRISONER IN A TREE. 243 ported by my hands, trembling in every limb, I the whole country around me underwater; the vast extent of the inundation left me but little hope that my friends would discover where I was; heavy rain beat against my face ; thunder was roaring and lightning flashing around me; I was tormented by hunger, and was obliged, in order to appease it, to chew a few of the leaves of my tree. Almost as if they had guessed my despair, the two lixards ventured to approach me. Fancy the effect produced on my disordered imagination by their gigantic size, their fiery, flaming eyeballs, and Un- varying colours of dark bronze which played over their large bodies. One of them was almost close to me, when, collecting all my strength and courage, I struck him on the head. Both my enemies imme- diately disappeared with a speed which surpri-r-l me, and posted themselves on the other side of the tree. The long day was at length near a close. Clouds of vultures hovered over my head ; flocks of herons and flamingoes skimmed over the waters, and awoke the crocodiles, who darting up to seize them, fell themselves a prey to the cruel teeth of the jaguar- ; whole fleets of tortoises raised their broad shells above the surface of the river, whilst bands of mon- keys, chattering and screaming in concert, swung from tree to tree, balancing themselves on the branches, and seeming to dance a grotesque ball t among the waving leaves. In the night, hujro bat< flapped their heavy wings over me, whilst thousand < of fire-flies, lighting their tiny lamps all around, seemed to change my tree into a fairy palace. 244 HIS MISERABLE POSITION. MONKEYS CROSSING STREAM. Thanks to my knife, I succeeded in fixing my ham- mock securely in its place. I lay down, and grief and weariness, fatigue and heaviness, soon closed my eyes. A DANGEROUS ARRIVAL. 245 Day dawned again, but still no vessel, no boat was in sight; there was no pound but the Avliistling of the wind and the rush of the waters. My fever fits became more frequent and severe. A mantle of mist, ever thicker and thicker, wrapped all around me in a dark veil, and hid from my eyes even the nearest trees. I felt as if the tomb were swallowing me up alive, I bade adieu to hope, and tried to lift my soul in prayer to God, as one feeling himself very near eternity. "What hope, indeed, was there that my companions could now succeed in finding me? How could they discover me among the thick leaves and the impenetrable fog ? All at once, a low growl, very near me, pierced through the foggy air and struck upon my ear. I rose : too well I knew the cry of the jaguar. I heard a rustling among the leaves, then the break- ing of branches, and a sound as if a living creature hud fallen from the tree and was struggling in the water. I hoped that the waves had closed over their prey, or that the alligators had made an end of it. By degrees the mist cleared away, a light current of air seemed to rend away the dark veil which had hid every object from my sight. AY hen I cast my eyes on the fatal rock which had led me to the tree in which I was now a prixmcr, what a terrible sight was there! The jaguar himself, still wet with his plunge into the water, had contrived to scramble, out and escape the death which threatened him. as sitting on the rock, facing The jaguar was sitting on the rock facing me, his eyes were fixed on the tree whose branches fell per- pendicularly over his head. lie was motionless, 246 THE MAN AND THE JAGUAR. silently watching me. There was not a space of six feet between him and the end of the branches, lie seemed to be calculating the force and the length of his spring. Deceived in his first attempt to reach the branches, he darted towards the trunk, in which he fixed his long claws and began slowly to ascend. I felt all the advantage that I gained over him by his position. I cautiously descended, one hand armed with a branch which I had sharpened, and the other with my open knife. I let my enemy advance step by step, plunging his sharp claws into the smooth bark of the tree, his emerald eye still fixed on me with a burning and bloodthirsty eagerness. I leaned my knee for support on the angle formed by the division of the branches, and looked down. Even amid the dangers that threatened me, I could not help admiring the elegance, the strength, and the suppleness of my adversary. I felt his hot breath on my face; his forepaws were almost within reach of my hand. I fixed the point of my knife firmly in the bark of the tree, and raising the sharpened branch which was to serve both for club and spear, I struck him violently on the head. He replied with a hollow growl, but did not lose an inch of ground. He only changed his position a little, and placed his head under a branch which covered and protected it. I saw that it would be useless to con- tinue the same plan of defence, and I plunged the sharp stick into his open mouth, so as to cause him intense pain: it made him draw back a step, but did not throw him down. He gathered up his body like a cat, and put up one of his forepaws so as to catch a branch which would have placed him on a THE ENEMY OVERCOME. 247 level with me, and so have given him a great ad- vantage. My situation became critical, his five enormous claws touched my knee, his panting breath told what a vigorous effort he was about to make. I stooped down, with my knife in my hand, and plunged it up to the handle in the creature's eye. He uttered a long cry of anguish and tried to strike at me with his claws, while his blood gushed over my hand. But he had been forced to draw back a little. I struck him again with my sharp stick, which drove him still further down, leaving the deep marks of his claws in the bark of the tree. I had a little re- covered confidence and courage. I watched him carefully. Maddened by rage and pain, he forgot the caution peculiar to his race and strove at any cost to reach me : he made a wild spring to a branch within my reach, and received on his head a blow from my club which sent him tumbling into the river. His fate was soon decided. Scarcely was he in the water when several crocodiles, which had stationed themselves under the tree as if watching the issue of our contest, attacked him all at once, and devoured him, to my great satis- faction. At last I dared to look round me. The heavy fog, like a vast dome, hung suspended over the waste of waters. I was hungry I was cold I trembled. My companions the lizards, of which I had once been afraid, but which I now longed to eat, reappeared no more. I chewed some of the leaves of my tree; which, although they did not satisfy my hunger, at least hindered me from feeling 248 HOISTING A SIGNAL. its pan^s so keenly. I might have descended from the tree to the rock, in order to be more easily seen by my zambos; but I dared not do it. My place in the tree was safer; it would have been madness to have exposed myself to the teeth of the beasts of prey below. I saw at once all the horror of my fate. My zambos, thought I, would have returned long ago, if the vessel had not been carried by the flood to a very great distance from my prison. I was nearly in despair. Mournful vultures, with their naked ashy-looking heads, perched themselves near me, and their hoarse cries seemed to foretell my death. I cut off a long straight branch, to one end of which I fastened a piece of white linen. This flag, which I placed at the end of a branch, was seen by no human eye, and soon became quite useless, as a violent shower drenched it, and made it hang down instead of floating in the air. The third night of my strange imprisonment found me lying in my hammock, suffering alternately from violent hunger, intense thirst, and insupportable sickness: not a light, not even the smallest star, appeared through the fog. How long that night seemed ! How slowly its hours dragged themselves away! No sleep soothed me, sharp pains shot through all my stiffened limbs; pain was the only feeling that made me conscious of life. At length, the whid cleared away the fog in a slight degree, and my feeble eye could just distinguish a pale and misty light in the east, the sign of the dawn. I looked at it without hope, while I listened to the loud rolling of the thunder at a distance. In the intervals between the peals I began to fancy that I SUCCOUR AT HAND. 249 heard another sound, like the noise of fire-arras echoing on the water. Was it altogether a fancy' Was my imagination deceiving me? Several times I heard the same sound repeated. Perhaps some of the savage tribes on the banks of the Orinoco were carrying on some of their bloody fights, but what was that to me? They were not my companions they would not free me from my terrible prison. I tried to rise and look around, but my trembling limbs refused to support me : exhausted, half-fainting, more dead than alive, if my pulse still beat, my mind seemed gone. All at once a loud firing aroused me. I seemed to awake. I rose, I tried to scream; but it was a feeble cry, and none replied. Soon I heard shots in other directions near to me. At the well-known sound all my hopes revived, the blood seemed to flow back to my heart. Another and another shot, and then I saw a canoe coming in sight round the point of the rocks. My zambos were in it. I could distinguish the man at the helm. I tried once more to scream, but my emotion stifled my voice. The boat coasted about in all directions, my faithful companions were seeking me, from time to time firing a shot to tell me they were there, they came nearer and nearer. I saw them all distinctly, and at length found strength to utter a loud cry. The echo of their cheerful voices was soon heard, they moored the boat at the foot of the tree and landed. Exhausted with fatigue, I descend, or rather J fall into the arms of these faithful and compas- sionate friends, who had spent two days and a half in searching for me on the trackless waste of vraters. CHAPTER XIX. GUIANA. Productions of Guiana Population British Guiana French Guiana- Political Exiles in Guiana Their Attempt to Escape They Build a Raft Their Sufferings A Second Raft Built A Perilous Voyage The Exiles Reach a Dutch Colony, and are Kindly Received. GUIANA, which lies to the north-east of South America, is principally composed of very fertile plains. The climate is hot and damp, and in the neighbourhood of the swamps, which cover a con- siderable portion of the country, very unhealthy. The quantity of rain that falls is eight times greater than in Paris. Those who venture out in the middle of the day, run the risk of having a sunstroke, and besides a large straw hat, which is indispensable, it is necessary to use the precaution of wearing a piece of wet cloth upon the head. The prevailing diseases are fever and dysentery, and from time to time, cholera and yellow fever, which make fearful ravages among the inhabitants. The characteristic vegetation of the country is a variety of beautiful wood used for mosaic work mahogany, lace wood, rose wood, amaranth wood, RESOURCES OF GUIANA. 251 satin wood, &c. ; and the caoutchouc or India-rubber tree, so useful in the arts. Sugar, cotton, coffee, tapioca, pepper, tobacco, are also much cultivated, and the rocou, the seed of which yield a beautiful red colour ; and there are also many useful medicinal plants, be- sides poisonous ones among which we may mention the curare, whose effect is so powerful, that a child is said to have died after having sucked the breast of its mother, which had heen struck by an arrow covered with it. The animal kingdom is not less varied than the vegetable birds of all sizes, aras, humming birds, toucans, &c. &c., variegate the forest with their magnificent plumage. The lakes and rivers abound with fish, several of which are poisonous ; others are remarkable for burying themselves several feet under ground, where they wait for the return of the water to the pools which may have become dry, and others, like the electric eel, a fish five or six feet long, deal out such powerful blows as to paralyze the most expert swimmer. Crocodiles are not un- common. The forests are inhabited by wild beasts, the air by mosquitoes and other injurious insects, and the marshes by immense boa constrictors, and a variety of other serpents. The population is composed of a small number of whites, English, French, and Dutch, who share the country between them, and negroes employed in cultivating the land. The latter, a few years ago, were all slaves, but in English and French Guiana, they are now their own masters, and in the Dutch colony, owing to the zeal of the Moravian mission- aries, they have the prospect of very soon also being 252 CAYENNE AND ITS TERRORS. free. Irt the remote forests of the interior, there are a great many fugitive negroes, known by the name of marsons, and various small Indian tribes, very indolent, but quite harmless. British Guiana, the chief towns of which are Georgetown and Essequibo, and Dutch Guiana, whose capital is Surinam or Paramaribo, are important only as regards the cul- tivation of articles of food. French Guiana, capital Cayenne, is insignificant in this respect, but has become celebrated as a place of banishment. Under the first French Republic, a number of distinguished political men were transported to it, and for some years past, this colony has again become a place of exile for political offenders, who, in spite of the strict surveillance to which they are subjected, continue from time to time to effect their escape. Braving the dangers of both sea and land, the pangs of hunger across the solitudes of the forests, and the teeth of wild beasts or venomous reptiles, the con- victs persevere in attempts to escape, which are rarely followed by the desired result. The following account of the dangers and suffer- ing attending such enterprises has been extracted from the Nantes Journal : On a late occasion, several of the political exiles imprisoned on Devil's Island set about procuring the means of escape. Cutting down some trees with which they contrived to build a kind of ship, they assembled at length to launch it, but the hopes of the seven exiles who expected by means of this fragile bark to regain their liberty were cruelly dis- appointed, for the vessel went to pieces before it was fairly afloat, and nothing was left but a few A DARING ENTERPRISE. 2." 3 straiJL r liiig spars. They were not to be discouraged, however, and with the remains of their sl>ip and the root of a tree which had been carried down by tho waters of the Amazon, they constructed a raft and placed it on four casks, on which these seven men embarked. After sailing about for four days, they were driven upon a muddy shore, without food, and where there was none to be had. Two of them, Pianauri and Pogenski, one an Italian, the other a Pole, left their companions in the hope of finding some habitation, but never returned. Exhausted with fatigue, they had not sufficient strength to drag themselves out of the mud into which they sank at every step, and it was reported by an Indian that their bodies had been found half buried and eaten by crabs. The other five who remained upon the stranded raft, despairing of seeing their com- panions return, and knowing how vain it would be to make any attempt to find them, resolved again to set sail, but before doing so, another raft required to be constructed, as the one which had brought them so far was fast in the mud For eight days they sailed along the shore, with nothing but salt water to drink, and nothing but raw crabs to eat; but they at last came upon a dwelling where they were kindly received by the inmates. A fortnight after the date of their escape, the news and result of their perilous voyage reached Devil's Island, and excited in several more of the exiles a desire to follow their example. Setting to work, they constructed in their turn a raft capable of carrying fifteen or eighteen persons. But the 254 THE FRENCH EXILES. love of freedom animated all the prisoners, and plenty of materials were soon found for a second raft to carry twenty more. A quantity of wood had been sent by Government for the purpose of building a house on the island, which the prisoners had no hesitation in making use of to carry out their plans. A square was formed of planks torn from a hut; bunches of maize stalks solidly bound together formed faggots which were placed under the raft, intended to carry twenty of the exiles from Devil's Island. The day fixed for their departure was the day appointed by Government for sending the weekly supply of provisions for the inhabitants. The pro- visions arrived at the usual time, and the prisoners, again left to themselves, and in possession of the supplies, embarked without delay. The sea was very tempestuous. But they hoisted their sails, and two rafts, upon which thirty-four men were crowded, sailed for the Gulf of Sina Maria. The first two days were stormy; on the third, however, the weather improved; but the following night was a dreadful one, and often the convicts dreaded being swallowed up by the waves. Towards morning, the twenty men who were on the larger of the two rafts, came in sight of land. They landed among the Indians belonging to a Dutch colony, who did not give them a very welcome reception, and they therefore determined to leave the place the same afternoon on foot. Having walked ten or twelve miles, they rested for the night in a wood, where they suffered much from the attacks of mosquitoes and other insects. ARRIVAL AT PARAMARIBO. 255 The little band set out again about midnight on their weary journey, which being made in the dark and over unknown ground, very nearly proved fatal to them. At one time they were afraid of perishing in the mud like their companions Pianauri and Pogenski; for they had often great difficulty in getting over the muddy soil of the mangrove woods througli which they had to pass. Several of them, indeed, were obliged, in order to extricate themselves, to leave behind the few possessions they had saved as well as their provisions. Exhausted by fatigue, and suffering from agonising thirst, they returned to the raft, but finding that in their absence, the sail had been carried away by the Indians, the prisoners were thankful to pass the night in a de- serted hut. On their arrival, the Indians conducted them to the governor of the Dutch colony of Tibron, who gave them a hearty welcome, and kindly placed a ship at their disposal, in which they embarked after it had been repaired. A messenger from the com- mander was also sent along with them, bearing a letter for the Indians, in which they were ordered to conduct the little band immediately to Parama- ribo. They accordingly set sail at ebb tide, and a few days afterwards arrived safely at Paramaribo, the capital of Dutch Guiana, situated upon the Surinam. This town contains 20,000 inhabitants. The exiles were kindly treated by the authorities, and taken to meet the other five convicts, whose escape from the Devil's Island had preceded their own. They were not a little surprised to see twenty of their companions arrive at once. 256 THEIR FINAL RELEASE. The fourteen men who left Devil's Island on the smallest of the rafts, had arrived at Paramaribo afterwards, and they found assembled thirty-nine convicts who had escaped from the penal settle- ment in Guiana. The Dutch authorities, however, not being cer- tain whether they were giving an asylum to con- victs or political prisoners, thought it their duty as a precautionary measure to put them all in prison. They continued there for a short time, but were soon after liberated. By a glance at the table of contents our readers will see that, in accordance with our plan, we have given a brief description of every country in South America, with some interesting narrative or adventure attached to each. It is our intention that this volume should soon be followed by a second, describing in the game way the countries of Central and North America till, from the Land of Fire whence we started, we reach the icy regions of the North Pole. In the belief that our " Travel Pictures" in America will prove acceptable to our young friends, we have in preparation a similar " Word Diorama " of other regions of the globe. 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