The Forest Exiles: The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER FORTY NINE.

  THE MANATI.

  The araguatoes, with dried plantains and cassava, were the food of ourtravellers for several days after. On the evening of the third day theyhad a change. Guapo succeeded in capturing a very large turtle, whichserved for relish at several meals. His mode of taking the turtle wassomewhat curious, and deserves to be described.

  The balza had been brought to the bank, and they were just mooring it,when something out on the water attracted the attention of Leon andLeona. It was a small, darkish object, and would not have been observedbut for the ripple that it made on the smooth surface of the river, andby this they could tell that it was in motion.

  "A water-snake!" said Leon.

  "Oh!" ejaculated the little Leona, "I hope not, brother Leon."

  "On second thoughts," replied Leon, "I don't think it is a snake."

  Of course the object was a good distance off, else Leon and Leona wouldnot have talked so coolly about it. But their words had reached the earof Dona Isidora, and drawn her attention to what they were talkingabout.

  "No; it is not a snake," said she. "I fancy it is a turtle."

  Guapo up to this had been busy with Don Pablo in getting the balza madefast. The word "turtle," however, caught his ear at once, and he lookedup, and then out on the river in the direction where Leon and Leona werepointing. As soon as his eye rested upon the moving object he repliedto the remark of Dona Isidora.

  "Yes, my mistress," said he, "it is a turtle, and a big one too. Pleaseall keep quiet--I think I can get him."

  How Guapo was to get the turtle was a mystery to all. The latter wasabout thirty paces distant, but it would be difficult, if notimpossible, to hit his small snout--the only part above water--with thearrow of the blow-gun. Moreover, they thought that the arrow would notpenetrate the hard, bony-substance, so as to stick there and infuse itspoison into the wound.

  These conjectures were true enough, but his gravatana was not the weaponwhich Guapo was about to use. He had other weapons as well--afish-spear or harpoon, and a regular bow and arrows, which he had madeduring his leisure hours in the valley.

  The latter was the weapon with which the tortoise was to be killed.

  Taking the bow, and adjusting an arrow to the string, Guapo steppedforward to the water's edge. All watched him, uttering their hopes ofhis success. It was still not clear with them how the turtle was to bekilled by an arrow shot from a bow any more than by one sent from ablow-gun. Would it not glance from the shell even should he succeed inhitting it under water? Surely it would!

  As they stood whispering their conjectures to one another, they observedGuapo, to their great astonishment, _pointing his arrow upward_, andmaking as if he was going to discharge it in the air! This he, in fact,_did_ do a moment after; and they would have been puzzled by hisapparently strange conduct, had they not observed, in the next instant,that the arrow, after flying high up, came down again head-foremost andstuck upright in the back of the turtle.

  The turtle dived at once, and all of them expected to see the uprightarrow carried under water. What was their surprise as well as chagrinto see that it had fallen out, and was floating on the surface! Ofcourse the wound had only been a slight one, and the turtle wouldescape, and be none the worse for it.

  But Guapo shared neither their surprise nor chagrin. Guapo felt surethat the turtle was his, and said nothing; but, jumping into the canoe,began to paddle himself out to where the creature had been last seen.What could he be after? thought they.

  As they watched him, they saw that he made for the floating arrow."Oh!" said they, "he is gone to recover it."

  That seemed probable enough, but, to their astonishment, as heapproached the weapon it took a start, and ran away from him! Somethingbelow dragged it along the water. That was clear, and they began tocomprehend the mystery. The _head_ of the arrow was still sticking inthe shell of the turtle. It was only the shaft that floated, and thatwas attached to the head by a string! The latter had been but looselyput on, so that the pressure of the water, as the turtle dived, shouldseparate it from the shaft, leaving the shaft with its cord to act as abuoy, and discover the situation of the turtle.

  Guapo, in his swift canoe, soon laid hold of the shaft, and after alittle careful manoeuvring, succeeded in landing his turtle high and dryupon the bank. A splendid prize it proved. It was a "jurara"tortoise--the "tataruga," or great turtle of the Portuguese, and itsshell was full three feet in diameter.

  Guapo's mode of capturing the "jurara" is the same as that generallypractised by the Indians of the Amazon, although strong nets and thehook are also used. The arrow is always discharged upwards, and therange calculated with such skill, that it falls vertically on the shellof the turtle, and penetrates deep enough to stick, and detach itselffrom the shaft. This mode of shooting is necessary, else the juraracould not be killed by an arrow, because it never shows more than thetip of its snout above water, and any arrow hitting it in a directcourse would glance harmlessly from its shell. A good bowman among theIndians will rarely miss shooting in this way,--long practice and nativeskill enabling him to guess within an inch of where his weapon willfall.

  In the towns of the Lower Amazon, where turtles are brought to market, asmall square hole may be observed in the shells of these creatures.That is the mark of the arrow-head.

  Guapo lost no time in turning his turtle inside out, and converting partof it into a savoury supper, while the remainder was fried intosausage-meat, and put away for the following day.

  But on that following day a much larger stock of sausage-meat wasprocured from a very different animal, and that was a "cow."

  "How?" you exclaim,--"a cow in the wild forests of the Amazon! Why, youhave said that no cattle--either cows or horses--can exist there withoutman to protect them, else they would be devoured by pumas, jaguars, andbats. Perhaps they had arrived at some settlement where cows werekept?"

  Not a bit of it; your conjecture, my young friend, is quite astray.There was not a civilised settlement for many hundreds of miles fromwhere Guapo got his cow--nor a cow neither, of the sort you are thinkingof. But there are more kinds of cows than one; and, perhaps, you mayhave heard of a creature called the "fish-cow?" Well, that is the sortof cow I am speaking of. Some term it the "sea-cow," but this is animproper name for it, since it also inhabits fresh-water riversthroughout all tropical America. It is known as the _Manati_, and thePortuguese call it "_peixe hoi_," which is only "fish-cow" done intoPortuguese.

  It is a curious creature the fish-cow, and I shall offer you a shortdescription of it. It is usually about seven feet in length, and fiveround the thickest part of the body, which latter is quite smooth, andtapers off into a horizontal flat tail, semicircular in shape. Thereare no hind-limbs upon the animal, but just behind the head are twopowerful fins of an oval shape. There is no neck to be perceived; andthe head, which is not very large, terminates in a large mouth andfleshy lips, which are not unlike those of a cow: hence its name of"cow-fish." There are stiff bristles on the upper lip, and a few thinlyscattered hairs over the rest of the body. Behind the oval fins are two_mamma_, or breasts, from which, when pressed, flows a stream ofbeautiful white milk. Both eyes and ears are very small in proportionto the size of the animal, but, nevertheless, it has full use of theseorgans, and is not easily approached by its enemy.

  The colour of the skin is a dusky lead, with some flesh-coloured markson the belly, and the skin itself is an inch thick at its thickest part,on the back. Beneath the skin is a layer of fat, of great thickness,which makes excellent oil when boiled. As we have said, the manati hasno appearance of hind-limbs. Its fore-limbs, however, are highlydeveloped for a water animal. The bones in them correspond to those inthe human arm, having five fingers with the joints distinct, yet soenclosed in an inflexible sheath that not a joint can be moved.

  The cow-fish feeds on grass, coming in to the borders of the lakes andrivers to procure it. It can swim very rapid
ly by means of its flattail and strong fins, and is not so easily captured as might besupposed. All the art of the hunter is required to effect itsdestruction. The harpoon is the weapon usually employed, thoughsometimes they are caught in strong nets stretched across the mouths ofrivers or the narrow arms of lakes. The flesh of the manati is muchesteemed, and tastes somewhat between beef and pork, altogetherdifferent from "fish." Fried in its own oil, and poured into pots orjars, it can be preserved for many months.

  As already stated, on the day after Guapo shot the turtle--in fact, thenext morning--just as they were going to shove off, some of the party,in gazing from the edge of the balza, noticed a queer-looking animal inthe clear water below. It was no other than a "fish-cow;" and, as theycontinued to examine it more attentively, they were astonished toobserve that, with its short paddle-like limbs, it hugged two miniaturemodels of itself close to its two breasts. These were the "calves" inthe act of suckling, for such is the mode in which the manati nourishesher young.

  All the others would have watched this spectacle for a while, interestedin the maternal and filial traits thus exhibited by a subaqueouscreature, but while they stood looking into the water, something glancedbefore their eyes, and glided with a plunge to the bottom. It was theharpoon of Guapo.

  Blood rose to the surface immediately, and there was a considerableplashing as the strong manati made its attempt to escape; but the headof the harpoon was deeply buried in its flesh, and, with the attachedcord, Guapo soon hauled the animal ashore. It was as much as he and DonPablo could do to drag it on dry land; but the knife soon took it topieces; and then several hours were spent in making it fit forpreservation. Its fat and flesh yielded enough to fill every sparevessel our travellers had got; and, when all were filled, the balza waspushed off, and they continued their voyage without any fear of shortrations for some time to come.

  CHAPTER FIFTY.

  THE CLOSING CHAPTER.

  After many days of difficult navigation the balza floated upon the broadand mighty Amazon, whose yellowish-olive flood flowed yet fifteenhundred miles farther to the Atlantic Ocean.

  The current was in most places over four miles an hour, and thenavigation smooth and easy--so that our travellers rarely made less thanfifty miles a-day. There was considerable monotony in the landscape, onaccount of the absence of mountains, as the Amazon, through most of itscourse, runs through a level plain. The numerous bends and suddenwindings of the stream, however, continually opening out into new andcharming vistas, and the ever-changing variety of vegetation, formedsources of delight to the travellers.

  Almost every day they passed the mouth of some tributary river--many ofthese appearing as large as the Amazon itself. Our travellers werestruck with a peculiarity in relation to these rivers--that is, theirvariety of colour. Some were whitish, with a tinge of olive, like theAmazon itself; others were blue and transparent; while a third kind hadwaters as black as ink. Of the latter class is the great river of theRio Negro--which by means of a tributary (the Cassiquiare) joins theAmazon with the Orinoco.

  Indeed, the rivers of the Amazon valley have been classed into _white,blue_, and _black_. Red rivers, such as are common in the northerndivision of the American continent, do not exist in the valley of theAmazon.

  There appears to be no other explanation for this difference in thecolour of rivers, except by supposing that they take their hue from thenature of the soil through which these channels run.

  But the _white_ rivers, as the Amazon itself, do not appear to be ofthis hue merely because they are "muddy." On the contrary, they derivetheir colour, or most of it, from some impalpable substance held in astate of irreducible solution. This is proved from the fact, that evenwhen these waters enter a reservoir, and the earthy matter is allowed tosettle, they still retain the same tinge of yellowish olive. There aresome white rivers, as the Rio Branco, whose waters are almost as whiteas milk itself!

  The _blue_ rivers of the Amazon valley are those with clear transparentwaters, and the courses of these lie through rocky countries where thereis little or no alluvium to render them turbid.

  The _black_ streams are the most remarkable of all. These, when deep,look like rivers of ink; and when the bottom can be seen, which isusually a sandy one, the sand has the appearance of gold. Even whenlifted in a vessel, the water retains its inky tinge, and resembles thatwhich may be found in the pools of peat-bogs. It is a generalsupposition in South America that the black-water rivers get theircolour from the extract of sarsaparilla roots growing on their banks.It is possible the sarsaparilla roots may have something to do with it,in common with both the roots and leaves of many other vegetables. Noother explanation has yet been found to account for the dark colour ofthese rivers, except the decay of vegetable substances carried in theircurrent; and it is a fact that all the black-water streams run throughthe most thickly wooded regions.

  A curious fact may be mentioned of the black rivers; that is, thatmosquitoes--the plague of tropical America--are not found on theirbanks. This is not only a curious, but an important fact, and might besufficient to determine any one on the choice of a settlement. You maydeem a mosquito a very small thing, and its presence a triflingannoyance. Let me tell you that settlements have been broken up anddeserted on account of the persecution experienced from these littleinsects! They are the real "wild beasts" of South America, far more tobe dreaded than pumas, or crocodiles, or snakes, or even the fiercejaguar himself.

  Day after day our travellers kept on their course, meeting with manyincidents and adventures--too many to be recorded in this little volume.After passing the mouth of the Rio Negro, they began to get a peep nowand then of high land, and even mountains, in the distance; for thevalley of the Amazon, on approaching its mouth, assumes a differentcharacter from what it has farther up-stream. These mountains bendtowards it both from the Brazilian country on the south, and from Guianaon the north, and these are often visible from the bosom of the streamitself.

  It was about a month from their entering the main stream of the Amazon,and a little more than two from the first launching of their vessel,when the balza was brought alongside the wharf of Grand Para, and DonPablo and his party stepped on shore at this Brazilian town. Here, ofcourse, Don Pablo was a free man--free to go where he pleased--free todispose of his cargo as he thought best. But he did _not_ dispose of itat Grand Para. A better plan presented itself. He was enabled tofreight part of a vessel starting for New York, and thither he went,taking his family and cargo along with him. In New York he obtained alarge price for his bark, roots, and beans; in fact, when all weredisposed of, he found himself nearly twenty thousand dollars to thegood. With this to live upon, he determined to remain in the greatRepublic of the North until such time as his own dear Peru might befreed from the Spanish oppressor.

  Ten years was the period of his exile. At the end of that time theSpanish-American provinces struck almost simultaneously for liberty; andin the ten years' struggle that followed, not only Don Pablo, but Leon--now a young man--bore a conspicuous part. Both fought by the side ofBolivar at the great battle of Junin, which crowned the patriot armywith victory.

  At the close of the War of Independence, Don Pablo was a general ofdivision, while Leon had reached the grade of a colonel. But as soon asthe fighting was over, both resigned their military rank, as they weremen who did not believe in soldiering as a _mere profession_. In fact,they regarded it as an unbecoming profession in time of peace, and inthis view I quite agree with them.

  Don Pablo returned to his studies; but Leon organised an expedition of_cascarilleros_, and returned to the Montana, where for many years heemployed himself in "bark-hunting." Through this he became one of therichest of Peruvian "ricos."

  Guapo, who at this time did not look a year older than when firstintroduced, was as tough and sinewy as ever, and was at the head of thecascarilleros; and many a _coceada_ did Guapo afterwards enjoy with hismountain friend the "vaquero" while passing backward and forward be
tweenCuzco and the Montana.

  Dona Isidora lived for a long period an ornament to her sex, and thelittle Leona had _her_ day as the "belle of Cuzco."

  But Leon and Leona both got married at length; and were you to visitCuzco at the present time, you might see several little Leons andLeonas, with round black eyes, and dark waving hair--all of themdescendants from our family of--

  "Forest Exiles."

  THE END.