Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon by Jules Verne

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This sketch of the Garral family would not be complete, and would
lack some of its features, were we not to mention the numerous staff
of the fazenda.

In the first place, then, it behooves us to name an old negress, of
some sixty years, called Cybele, free through the will of her master,
a slave through her affection for him and his, and who had been the
nurse of Yaquita. She was one of the family. She thee-ed and thou-ed
both daughter and mother. The whole of this good creature's life was
passed in these fields, in the middle of these forests, on that bank
of the river which bounded the horizon of the farm. Coming as a child
to Iquitos in the slave-trading times, she had never quitted the
village; she was married there, and early a widow, had lost her only
son, and remained in the service of Magalhaës. Of the Amazon she knew
no more than what flowed before her eyes.

With her, and more specially attached to the service of Minha, was a
pretty, laughing mulatto, of the same age as her mistress, to whom
she was completely devoted. She was called Lina. One of those gentle
creatures, a little spoiled, perhaps, to whom a good deal of
familiarity is allowed, but who in return adore their mistresses.
Quick, restless, coaxing, and lazy, she could do what she pleased in
the house.

As for servants they were of two kinds--Indians, of whom there were
about a hundred, employed always for the works of the fazenda, and
blacks to about double the number, who were not yet free, but whose
children were not born slaves. Joam Garral had herein preceded the
Brazilian government. In this country, moreover, the negroes coming
from Benguela, the Congo, or the Gold Coast were always treated with
kindness, and it was not at the fazenda of Iquitos that one would
look for those sad examples of cruelty which were so frequent on
foreign plantations.

CHAPTER IV

HESITATION

MANOEL WAS in love with the sister of his friend Benito, and she was
in love with him. Each was sensible of the other's worth, and each
was worthy of the other.

When he was no longer able to mistake the state of his feelings
toward Minha, Manoel had opened his heart to Benito.

"Manoel, my friend," had immediately answered the enthusiastic young
fellow, "you could not do better than wish to marry my sister. Leave
it to me! I will commence by speaking to the mother, and I think I
can promise that you will not have to wait long for her consent."

Half an hour afterward he had done so.

Benito had nothing to tell his mother which she did not know; Yaquita
had already divined the young people's secret.

Before ten minutes had elapsed Benito was in the presence of Minha.
They had but to agree; there was no need for much eloquence. At the
first words the head of the gentle girl was laid on her brother's
shoulder, and the confession, "I am so happy!" was whispered from her
heart.

The answer almost came before the question; that was obvious. Benito
did not ask for more.

There could be little doubt as to Joam Garral's consent. But if
Yaquita and her children did not at once speak to him about the
marriage, it was because they wished at the same time to touch on a
question which might be more difficult to solve. That question was,
Where should the wedding take place?

Where should it be celebrated? In the humble cottage which served for
the village church? Why not? Joam and Yaquita had there received the
nuptial benediction of the Padre Passanha, who was then the curate of
Iquitos parish. At that time, as now, there was no distinction in
Brazil between the civil and religious acts, and the registers of the
mission were sufficient testimony to a ceremony which no officer of
the civil power was intrusted to attend to.

Joam Garral would probably wish the marriage to take place at
Iquitos, with grand ceremonies and the attendance of the whole staff
of the fazenda, but if such was to be his idea he would have to
withstand a vigorous attack concerning it.

"Manoel," Minha said to her betrothed, "if I was consulted in the
matter we should not be married here, but at Para. Madame Valdez is
an invalid; she cannot visit Iquitos, and I should not like to become
her daughter without knowing and being known by her. My mother agrees
with me in thinking so. We should like to persuade my father to take
us to Belem. Do you not think so?"

To this proposition Manoel had replied by pressing Minha's hand. He
also had a great wish for his mother to be present at his marriage.
Benito had approved the scheme without hesitation, and it was only
necessary to persuade Joam Garral. And hence on this day the young
men had gone out hunting in the woods, so as to leave Yaquita alone
with her husband.

In the afternoon these two were in the large room of the house. Joam
Garral, who had just come in, was half-reclining on a couch of
plaited bamboos, when Yaquita, a little anxious, came and seated
herself beside him.

To tell Joam of the feelings which Manoel entertained toward his
daughter was not what troubled her. The happiness of Minha could not
but be assured by the marriage, and Joam would be glad to welcome to
his arms the new son whose sterling qualities he recognized and
appreciated. But to persuade her husband to leave the fazenda Yaquita
felt to be a very serious matter.

In fact, since Joam Garral, then a young man, had arrived in the
country, he had never left it for a day. Though the sight of the
Amazon, with its waters gently flowing to the east, invited him to
follow its course; though Joam every year sent rafts of wood to
Manaos, to Belem, and the seacoast of Para; though he had seen each
year Benito leave after his holidays to return to his studies, yet
the thought seemed never to have occurred to him to go with him.

The products of the farm, of the forest, and of the fields, the
fazender sold on the spot. He had no wish, either with thought or
look, to go beyond the horizon which bounded his Eden.

From this it followed that for twenty-five years Joam Garral had
never crossed the Brazilian frontier, his wife and daughter had never
set foot on Brazilian soil. The longing to see something of that
beautiful country of which Benito was often talking was not wanting,
nevertheless. Two or three times Yaquita had sounded her husband in
the matter. But she had noticed that the thought of leaving the
fazenda, if only for a few weeks, brought an increase of sadness to
his face. His eyes would close, and in a tone of mild reproach he
would answer:

"Why leave our home? Are we not comfortable here?"

And Yaquita, in the presence of the man whose active kindness and
unchangeable tenderness rendered her so happy, had not the courage to
persist.

This time, however, there was a serious reason to make it worth
while. The marriage of Minha afforded an excellent opportunity, it
being so natural for them to accompany her to Belem, where she was
going to live with her husband. She would there see and learn to love
the mother of Manoel Valdez. How could Joam Garral hesitate in the
face of so praiseworthy a desire? Why, on the other hand, did he not
participate in this desire to become acquainted with her who was to
be the second mother of his child?

Yaquita took her husband's hand, and with that gentle voice which had
been to him all the music of his life:

"Joam," she said, "I am going to talk to you about something which we
ardently wish, and which will make you as happy as we are."

"What is it about, Yaquita?" asked Joam.

"Manoel loves your daughter, he is loved by her, and in this union
they will find the happiness----"

At the first words of Yaquita Joam Garral had risen, without being
able to control a sudden start. His eyes were immediately cast down,
and he seemed to designedly avoid the look of his wife.

"What is the matter with you?" asked she.

"Minha? To get married!" murmured Joam.

"My dear," said Yaquita, feeling somewhat hurt, "have you any
objection to make to the marriage? Have you not for some time noticed
the feelings which Manoel has entertained toward our daughter?"

"Yes; and a year since----"

And Joam sat down without finishing his thoughts. By an effort of his
will he had again become master of himself. The unaccountable
impression which had been made upon him disappeared. Gradually his
eyes returned to meet those of Yaquita, and he remained thoughtfully
looking at her.

Yaquita took his hand.

"Joam," she said, "have I been deceived? Had you no idea that this
marriage would one day take place, and that it would give her every
chance of happiness?"

"Yes," answered Joam. "All! Certainly. But, Yaquita, this
wedding--this wedding that we are both thinking of--when is it coming
off? Shortly?"

"It will come off when you choose, Joam."

"And it will take place here--at Iquitos?"

This question obliged Yaquita to enter on the other matter which she
had at heart. She did not do so, however, without some hesitation,
which was quite intelligible.

"Joam," said she, after a moment's silence, "listen to me. Regarding
this wedding, I have got a proposal which I hope you will approve of.
Two or three times during the last twenty years I have asked you to
take me and my daughter to the provinces of the Lower Amazon, and to
Para, where we have never been. The cares of the fazenda, the works
which have required your presence, have not allowed you to grant our
request. To absent yourself even for a few days would then have
injured your business. But now everything has been successful beyond
your dreams, and if the hour of repose has not yet come for you, you
can at least for a few weeks get away from your work."

Joam Garral did not answer, but Yaquita felt his hand tremble in
hers, as though under the shock of some sorrowful recollection. At
the same time a half-smile came to her husband's lips--a mute
invitation for her to finish what she had begun.

"Joam," she continued, "here is an occasion which we shall never see
again in this life. Minha is going to be married away from us, and is
going to leave us! It is the first sorrow which our daughter has
caused us, and my heart quails when I think of the separation which
is so near! But I should be content if I could accompany her to
Belem! Does it not seem right to you, even in other respects that we
should know her husband's mother, who is to replace me, and to whom
we are about to entrust her? Added to this, Minha does not wish to
grieve Madame Valdez by getting married at a distance from her. When
we were married, Joam, if your mother had been alive, would you not
have liked her to be present at your wedding?"

At these words of Yaquita Joam made a movement which he could not
repress.

"My dear," continued Yaquita, "with Minha, with our two sons, Benito
and Manoel, with you, how I should like to see Brazil, and to journey
down this splendid river, even to the provinces on the seacoast
through which it runs! It seems to me that the separation would be so
much less cruel! As we came back we should revisit our daughter in
her house with her second mother. I would not think of her as gone I
knew not where. I would fancy myself much less a stranger to the
doings of her life."

This time Joam had fixed his eyes on his wife and looked at her for
some time without saying anything.

What ailed him? Why this hesitation to grant a request which was so
just in itself--to say "Yes," when it would give such pleasure to all
who belonged to him? His business affairs could not afford a
sufficient reason. A few weeks of absence would not compromise
matters to such a degree. His manager would be able to take his place
without any hitch in the fazenda. And yet all this time he hesitated.

Yaquita had taken both her husband's hands in hers, and pressed them
tenderly.

"Joam," she said, "it is not a mere whim that I am asking you to
grant. No! For a long time I have thought over the proposition I have
just made to you; and if you consent, it will be the realization of
my most cherished desire. Our children know why I am now talking to
you. Minha, Benito, Manoel, all ask this favor, that we should
accompany them. We would all rather have the wedding at Belem than at
Iquitos. It will be better for your daughter, for her establishment,
for the position which she will take at Belem, that she should arrive
with her people, and appear less of a stranger in the town in which
she will spend most of her life."

Joam Garral leaned on his elbows. For a moment he hid his face in his
hands, like a man who had to collect his thoughts before he made
answer. There was evidently some hesitation which he was anxious to
overcome, even some trouble which his wife felt but could not
explain. A secret battle was being fought under that thoughtful brow.
Yaquita got anxious, and almost reproached herself for raising the
question. Anyhow, she was resigned to what Joam should decide. If the
expedition would cost too much, she would silence her wishes; she
would never more speak of leaving the fazenda, and never ask the
reason for the inexplicable refusal.

Some minutes passed. Joam Garral rose. He went to the door, and did
not return. Then he seemed to give a last look on that glorious
nature, on that corner of the world where for twenty years of his
life he had met with all his happiness.

Then with slow steps he returned to his wife. His face bore a new
expression, that of a man who had taken a last decision, and with
whom irresolution had ceased.

"You are right," he said, in a firm voice. "The journey is necessary.
When shall we start?"

"Ah! Joam! my Joam!" cried Yaquita, in her joy. "Thank you for me!
Thank you for them!"

And tears of affection came to her eyes as her husband clasped her to
his heart.

At this moment happy voices were heard outside at the door of the
house.

Manoel and Benito appeared an instant after at the threshold, almost
at the same moment as Minha entered the room.

"Children! your father consents!" cried Yaquita. "We are going to
Belem!"

With a grave face, and without speaking a word, Joam Garral received
the congratulations of his son and the kisses of his daughter.

"And what date, father," asked Benito, "have you fixed for the
wedding?"

"Date?" answered Joam. "Date? We shall see. We will fix it at Belem."

"I am so happy! I am so happy!" repeated Minha, as she had done on
the day when she had first known of Manoel's request. "We shall now
see the Amazon in all its glory throughout its course through the
provinces of Brazil! Thanks, father!"

And the young enthusiast, whose imagination was already stirred,
continued to her brother and to Manoel:

"Let us be off to the library! Let us get hold of every book and
every map that we can find which will tell us anything about this
magnificent river system! Don't let us travel like blind folks! I
want to see everything and know everything about this king of the
rivers of the earth!"

CHAPTER V

THE AMAZON

"THE LARGEST river in the whole world!" said Benito to Manoel Valdez,
on the morrow.

They were sitting on the bank which formed the southern boundary of
the fazenda, and looking at the liquid molecules passing slowly by,
which, coming from the enormous range of the Andes, were on their
road to lose themselves in the Atlantic Ocean eight hundred leagues
away.

"And the river which carries to the sea the largest volume of water,"
replied Manoel.

"A volume so considerable," added Benito, "that it freshens the sea
water for an immense distance from its mouth, and the force of whose
current is felt by ships at eight leagues from the coast."

"A river whose course is developed over more than thirty degrees of
latitude."

"And in a basin which from south to north does not comprise less than
twenty-five degrees."

"A basin!" exclaimed Benito. "Can you call it a basin, the vast plain
through which it runs, the savannah which on all sides stretches out
of sight, without a hill to give a gradient, without a mountain to
bound the horizon?"

"And along its whole extent," continued Manoel, "like the thousand
tentacles of some gigantic polyp, two hundred tributaries, flowing
from north or south, themselves fed by smaller affluents without
number, by the side of which the large rivers of Europe are but petty
streamlets."

"And in its course five hundred and sixty islands, without counting
islets, drifting or stationary, forming a kind of archipelago, and
yielding of themselves the wealth of a kingdom!"

"And along its flanks canals, lagoons, and lakes, such as cannot be
met with even in Switzerland, Lombardy, Scotland, or Canada."

"A river which, fed by its myriad tributaries, discharges into the
Atlantic over two hundred and fifty millions of cubic meters of water
every hour."

"A river whose course serves as the boundary of two republics, and
sweeps majestically across the largest empire of South America, as if
it were, in very truth, the Pacific Ocean itself flowing out along
its own canal into the Atlantic."

"And what a mouth! An arm of the sea in which one island, Marajo, has
a circumference of more than five hundred leagues!"

"And whose waters the ocean does not pond back without raising in a
strife which is phenomenal, a tide-race, or _'pororoca,'_ to which
the ebbs, the bores, and the eddies of other rivers are but tiny
ripples fanned up by the breeze."

"A river which three names are scarcely enough to distinguish, and
which ships of heavy tonnage, without any change in their cargoes,
can ascend for more than three thousand miles from its mouth."

"A river which, by itself, its affluents, and subsidiary streams,
opens a navigable commercial route across the whole of the south of
the continent, passing from the Magdalena to the Ortequazza, from the
Ortequazza to the Caqueta, from the Caqueta to the Putumayo, from the
Putumayo to the Amazon! Four thousand miles of waterway, which only
require a few canals to make the network of navigation complete!"

"In short, the biggest and most admirable river system which we have
in the world."

The two young men were speaking in a kind of frenzy of their
incomparable river. They were themselves children of this great
Amazon, whose affluents, well worthy of itself, from the highways
which penetrate Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, New Grenada, Venezuela, and
the four Guianas--English, French, Dutch and Brazilian.

What nations, what races, has it seen whose origin is lost in the
far-distant past! It is one of the largest rivers of the globe. Its
true source still baffles our explorers. Numbers of States still
claim the honor of giving it birth. The Amazon was not likely to
escape the inevitable fate, and Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia have for
years disputed as to the honor of its glorious paternity.

To-day, however, there seems to be little doubt but that the Amazon
rises in Peru, in the district of Huaraco, in the department of
Tarma, and that it starts from the Lake of Lauricocha, which is
situated between the eleventh and twelfth degree of south latitude.

Those who make the river rise in Bolivia, and descend form the
mountains of Titicaca, have to prove that the true Amazon is the
Ucayali, which is formed by the junction of the Paro and the
Apurimac--an assertion which is now generally rejected.

At its departure from Lake Lauricocha the youthful river starts
toward the northeast for a distance of five hundred and sixty miles,
and does not strike to the west until it has received an important
tributary--the Panta. It is called the Marañon in its journey through
Colombia and Peru up to the Brazilian frontier--or, rather, the
Maranhao, for Marañon is only the French rendering of the Portuguese
name.

From the frontier of Brazil to Manaos, where the superb Rio Negro
joins it, it takes the name of the Solimaës, or Solimoens, from the
name of the Indian tribe Solimao, of which survivors are still found
in the neighboring provinces. And, finally, from Manaos to the sea it
is the Amasenas, or river of the Amazons, a name given it by the old
Spaniards, the descendants of the adventurous Orellana, whose vague
but enthusiastic stories went to show that there existed a tribe of
female warriors on the Rio Nhamunda, one of the middle-sized
affluents of the great river.

From its commencement the Amazon is recognizable as destined to
become a magnificent stream. There are neither rapids nor obstacles
of any sort until it reaches a defile where its course is slightly
narrowed between two picturesque and unequal precipices. No falls are
met with until this point is reached, where it curves to the
eastward, and passes through the intermediary chain of the Andes.
Hereabouts are a few waterfalls, were it not for which the river
would be navigable from its mouth to its source. As it is, however,
according the Humboldt, the Amazon is free for five-sixths of its
length.

And from its first starting there is no lack of tributaries, which
are themselves fed by subsidiary streams. There is the Chinchipa,
coming from the northeast, on its left. On its right it is joined by
the Chachapoyas, coming from the northeast. On the left we have the
Marona and the Pastuca; and the Guallaga comes in from the right near
the mission station of Laguna. On the left there comes the Chambyra
and the Tigré, flowing from the northeast; and on the right the
Huallaga, which joins the main stream twenty-eight hundred miles from
the Atlantic, and can be ascended by steamboats for over two hundred
miles into the very heart of Peru. To the right, again, near the
mission of San Joachim d'Omaguas, just where the upper basin
terminates, and after flowing majestically across the pampas of
Sacramento, it receives the magnificent Ucayali, the great artery
which, fed by numerous affluents, descends from Lake Chucuito, in the
northeast of Arica.

Such are the principal branches above the village of Iquitos. Down
the stream the tributaries become so considerable that the beds of
most European rivers would fail to contain them. But the mouths of
these auxiliary waters Joam Garral and his people will pass as they
journey down the Amazon.

To the beauties of this unrivaled river, which waters the finest
country in the world, and keeps along its whole course at a few
degrees to the south of the equator, there is to be added another
quality, possessed by neither the Nile, the Mississippi, nor the
Livingstone--or, in other words, the old Congo-Zaira-Lualaba--and
that is (although some ill-informed travelers have stated to the
contrary) that the Amazon crosses a most healthy part of South
America. Its basin is constantly swept by westerly winds. It is not a
narrow valley surrounded by high mountains which border its banks,
but a huge plain, measuring three hundred and fifty leagues from
north to south, scarcely varied with a few knolls, whose whole extent
the atmospheric currents can traverse unchecked.

Professor Agassiz very properly protested against the pretended
unhealthiness o the climate of a country which is destined to become
one of the most active of the world's producers. According to him, "a
soft and gentle breeze is constantly observable, and produces an
evaporation, thanks to which the temperature is kept down, and the
sun does not give out heat unchecked. The constancy of this
refreshing breeze renders the climate of the river Amazon agreeable,
and even delightful."

The Abbé Durand has likewise testified that if the temperature does
not drop below 25 degrees Centigrade, it never rises above 33
degrees, and this gives for the year a mean temperature of from 28
degrees to 29 degrees, with a range of only 8 degrees.

After such statements we are safe in affirming that the basin of the
Amazon has none of the burning heats of countries like Asia and
Africa, which are crossed by the same parallels.

The vast plain which serves for its valley is accessible over its
whole extent to the generous breezes which come from off the
Atlantic.

And the provinces to which the river has given its name have
acknowledged right to call themselves the healthiest of a country
which is one of the finest on the earth.

And how can we say that the hydrographical system of the Amazon is
not known?

In the sixteenth century Orellana, the lieutenant of one of the
brothers Pizarro, descended the Rio Negro, arrived on the main river
in 1540, ventured without a guide across the unknown district, and,
after eighteen months of a navigation of which is record is most
marvelous, reached the mouth.

In 1636 and 1637 the Portuguese Pedro Texeira ascended the Amazon to
Napo, with a fleet of forty-seven pirogues.

In 1743 La Condamine, after having measured an arc of the meridian at
the equator, left his companions Bouguer and Godin des Odonais,
embarked on the Chinchipe, descended it to its junction with the
Marañon, reached the mouth at Napo on the 31st of July, just in time
to observe an emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter--which
allowed this "Humboldt of the eighteenth century" to accurately
determine the latitude and longitude of the spot--visited the
villages on both banks, and on the 6th of September arrived in front
of the fort of Para. This immense journey had important results--not
only was the course of the Amazon made out in scientific fashion, but
it seemed almost certain that it communicated with the Orinoco.

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