Afloat in the Forest; Or, A Voyage among the Tree-Tops

by Mayne Reid

  Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

  Afloat in the ForestA Voyage among the Tree-TopsBy Captain Mayne ReidPublished by Ticknor and Fields, Boston.This edition dated 1867.

  CHAPTER ONE.

  THE BROTHERS AT HOME.

  Twenty years ago, not twenty miles from the Land's End, there lived aCornish gentleman named Trevannion. Just twenty years ago he died,leaving to lament him a brace of noble boys, whose mother all three hadmourned, with like profound sorrow, but a short while before.

  "Squire" Trevannion, as he was called, died in his own house, where hisancestors for hundreds of years before him had dispensed hospitality.None of them, however, had entertained so profusely as he; or ratherimprovidently, it might be said, since in less than three months afterhis death the old family mansion, with the broad acres appertaining toit, passed into the hands of an alien, leaving his two sons, Ralph andRichard, landless, houseless, and almost powerless. One thousand poundsapiece was all that remained to them out of the wreck of the patrimonialestates. It was whispered that even this much was not in realitytheirs, but had been given to them by the _very respectable_ solicitorwho had managed their father's affairs, and had furthermore _managed_ tosucceed him in the ownership of a property worth a rental of threethousand a year.

  Any one knowing the conditions under which the young Trevannionsreceived their two thousand pounds must have believed it to be a gift,since it was handed over to them by the family solicitor with theprivate understanding that they were to use it in pushing their fortuneselsewhere,--anywhere except in Cornwall!

  The land-pirate who had plucked them--for in reality had they beenplucked--did not wish them to stay at home, divested, as they were, oftheir valuable plumage. He had appropriated their fine feathers, andcared not for the naked bodies of the birds.

  There were those in Cornwall who suspected foul play in the lawyer'sdealings with the young Trevannions, among others, the victimsthemselves. But what could they, do? They were utterly ignorant oftheir late father's affairs,--indeed, with any affairs that did notpartake of the nature of "sports." A solicitor "most respectable,"--aphrase that has become almost synonymous with rascality,--a regularchurch-goer,--accounts kept with scrupulous exactness,--a man of honestface, distinguished for probity of speech and integrity of heart,--whatcould the Trevannions do? What more than the Smiths and the Browns andthe Joneses, who, notwithstanding their presumed greater skill in theways of a wicked lawyer world, are duped every day in a similar manner.It is an old and oft-repeated story,--a tale too often told, and toooften true,--that of the family lawyer and his confiding client,standing in the relationship of robber and robbed.

  The two children of Squire Trevannion could do nothing to save orrecover their paternal estate. Caught in the net of legal chicanery,they were forced to yield, as other squires' children have had to do,and make the best, of a bad matter,--forced to depart from a home thathad been held by Trevannions perhaps since the Phoenicians strayedthitherward in search of their shining tin.

  It sore grieved them to separate from the scenes of their youth; but thesecret understanding with the solicitor required that sacrifice. Bystaying at home a still greater might be called for,--subsistence inpenury, and, worse than all, in a humiliating position; for,notwithstanding the open house long kept by their father, his friendshad disappeared with his guests. Impelled by these thoughts, thebrothers resolved to go forth into the wide world, and seek fortunewherever it seemed most likely they should find it.

  They were at this period something more than mere children. Ralph hadreached within twelve months of being twenty. Richard was his junior bya couple of years. Their book-education had been good; the practice ofmanly sports had imparted to both of them a physical strength thatfitted them for toil, either of the mind or body. They were equal to atough struggle, either in the intellectual or material world; and tothis they determined to resign themselves.

  For a time they debated between themselves where they should go, andwhat do. The army and navy came under their consideration. With suchpatronage as their father's former friends could command, and mightstill exert in favour of their fallen fortunes, a commission in eitherarmy or navy was not above their ambition. But neither felt muchinclined towards a naval or military life; the truth being, that athought had taken shape in their minds leading them to a differentdetermination.

  Their deliberations ended by each of them proclaiming a resolve,--almostsealing it with a vow,--that they would enter into some more profitable,though perhaps less pretentious, employment than that of eithersoldiering or sailoring; that they would toil--with their hands, if needbe--until they should accumulate a sufficient sum to return and recoverthe ancestral estate from the grasp of the avaricious usurper. They didnot know how it was to be done; but, young, strong, and hopeful, theybelieved it might be done,--with time, patience, and industry to aidthem in the execution.

  "Where shall we go?" inquired Richard, the younger of the two. "ToAmerica, where every poor man appears to prosper? With a thousand eachto begin the world with, we might do well there. What say you, Ralph?"

  "America is a country where men seem to thrive best who have _nothing_to begin the world with. You mean North America,--the United States,--Isuppose?"

  "I do."

  "I don't much like the United States as a home,--not because it is arepublic, for I believe that is the only just form of government,whatever our aristocratic friends may say. I object to it simplybecause I wish to go south,--to some part of the tropical world, whereone may equally be in the way of acquiring a fortune."

  "Is there such a place?"

  "There is."

  "Where, brother?"

  "Peru. Anywhere along the Sierra of the Andes from Chili to the Isthmusof Panama. As Cornish men we should adopt the specialty of ourprovince, and become miners. The Andes mountains will give us thatopportunity, where, instead of grey tin, we may delve for yellow gold.What say you to South America?"

  "I like the thought of South America,--nothing would please me betterthan going there. But I must confess, brother, I have no inclinationfor the occupation you speak of. I had rather be a merchant than aminer."

  "Don't let that _penchant_ prevent you from selecting Peru as the sceneof mercantile transactions. There are many Englishmen who have madefortunes in the Peruvian trade. You may hope to follow their example.We may choose different occupations and still be near each other. Onethousand pounds each may give both of us a start,--you as a merchant ofgoods, I as a digger for gold. Peru is the place for either business.Decide, Dick! Shall we sail for the scenes rendered celebrated byPizarro?"

  "If you will it--I'm agreed."

  "Thither then let us go."

  In a month from that time the two Trevannions might have been seen upona ship, steering westward from the Land's End, and six months later bothdisembarked upon the beach of Callao,--_en route_ first for Lima, thenceup the mountains, to the sterile snow-crested mountains, that towerabove the treasures of Cerro Pasco,--vainly guarded within the bosom ofadamantine rocks.

  CHAPTER TWO.

  THE BROTHERS ABROAD.

  Ralph and Richard Trevannion. If it were so, a gap of some fifteenyears--after the date of their arrival at Cerro Pasco--would have to befilled up. I decline to speak of this interval of their lives, simplybecause the details might not have any remarkable interest for thosebefore whom they would be laid.

  Suffice it to say, that Richard, the younger, soon became wearied of aminer's life; and, parting with his brother, he crossed the Cordilleras,and descended into the great Amazonian forest,--the "mo
ntana," as it iscalled by the Spanish inhabitants of the Andes. Thence, in company witha party of Portuguese traders, he kept on down the river Amazon, tradingalong its banks, and upon some of its tributary streams; and finallyestablished himself as a merchant at its mouth, in the thriving "city"of Gran Para.

  Richard was not unsocial in his habits; and soon became the husband of afair-haired wife,--the daughter of a countryman who, like himself, hadestablished commercial relations at Para. In a few years after, severalsweet children called him "father,"--only two of whom survived toprattle in his ears this endearing appellation, alas! no longer to bepronounced in the presence of their mother.

  Fifteen years after leaving the Land's End, Richard Trevannion, stillunder thirty-five years of age, was a widower, with two children,--respected wherever known, prosperous in pecuniary affairs,--rich enoughto return home, and spend the remainder of his days in that state somuch desired by the Sybarite Roman poet,--"otium cum dignitate."

  Did he remember the vow mutually made between him and his brother, that,having enough money, they would one day go back to Cornwall, and recoverthe ancestral estate? He did remember it. He longed to accomplish thisdesign, he only awaited his brother's answer to a communication he hadmade to him on this very subject.

  He had no doubt that Ralph's desire would be in unison with his own,--that his brother would soon join him, and then both would return totheir native land,--perhaps to dwell again under the same roof that hadsheltered them as children.

  The history of the elder brother during this period of fifteen years, ifless eventful, was not less distinguished by success. By steadilyfollowing the pursuit which had first attracted him to Peru, hesucceeded in becoming a man of considerable means,--independent, if notwealthy.

  Like his brother, he got married at an early period,--in fact, withinthe first year after establishing himself in Cerro Pasco. Unlike thelatter, however, he chose for his wife one of the women of thecountry,--a beautiful Peruvian lady. She too, but a short while before,had gone to a better world, leaving motherless two pretty children, oftwelve and fourteen years of age,--the elder of the two being adaughter.

  Such was the family of Ralph Trevannion, and such the condition of lifein which his brother's epistle reached him,--that epistle containing theproposal that they should wind lip their respective businesses, disposeof both, and carry their gains to the land that had given them birth.

  The proposition was at once accepted, as Richard knew it would be. Itwas far from the first time that the thing had been discussed,epistolary fashion, between them; for letters were exchanged as often asopportunity permitted,--sometimes twice or thrice in the year.

  In these letters, during the last few years of their sojourn in SouthAmerica, the promise made on leaving home was mutually mentioned, and asoften renewed on either side. Richard knew that his brother was aseager as himself to keep that well-remembered vow.

  So long as the mother of Ralph's children was alive, he had not urgedhis brother to its fulfilment; but now that she had been dead for morethan a year, he had written to say that the time had come for theirreturn to their country and their home.

  His proposal was, that Ralph, having settled his affairs in Peru,--which, of course, included the selling out of his share in the mines,--should join him, Richard, at Para, thence to take ship for England.That instead of going round by Cape Horn, or across the Isthmus, byPanama, Ralph should make the descent of the great Amazon River, whichtraverse would carry him latitudinally across the continent from west toeast.

  Richard had two reasons for recommending this route. First, because hewished his brother to see the great river of Orellana, as he himself haddone; and secondly, because he was still more desirous that his _ownson_ should see it.

  How this last wish was to be gratified by his brother making the descentof the Amazon, may require explanation; but it will suffice to say thatthe son of Richard Trevannion was at that time residing with his uncleat the mines of Cerro Pasco.

  The boy had gone to Peru the year before, in one of his father'sships,--first, to see the Great Ocean, then the Great Andes,--afterwardsto become acquainted with the country of the Incas, and last, though notof least importance, to make the acquaintance of his own uncle and histwo interesting cousins, the elder of whom was exactly his own age. Hehad gone to the Pacific side by _sea_. It was his father's wish heshould return to the Atlantic side by land,--or, to speak moreaccurately, by _river_.

  The merchant's wish was to be gratified. The miner had no desire torefuse compliance with his proposal. On the contrary, it chimed in withhis own inclinations. Ralph Trevannion possessed a spirit adventurousas his brother's, which fourteen years of mining industry, carried on inthe cold mountains of Cerro Pasco, had neither deadened nor chilled.The thought of once more returning to the scenes of his youth quiterejuvenated him; and on the day of receiving his brother's challenge togo, he not only accepted it, but commenced proceedings towards carryingthe design into execution.

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  A month afterwards and he might have been seen descending the easternslope of the Cordilleras on mule-back, and accompanied by his family andfollowers; afterwards aboard a _balsa_,--one of those curious craftsused in the descent of the Huallaga; and later still on the _montaria_,upon the bosom of the great river itself.

  With the details of his mountain travels, interesting as they may be, wehave naught to do. No more with his descent of the Huallaga, nor hislong voyage on the Amazon itself, in that up-river portion of the streamwhere it is called the "Maranon." Only where it becomes the stupendous"Solimoes" do we join Ralph Trevannion on his journey, and remain withhim as long as he is "Afloat in the Forest," _or making a voyage amongthe tree-tops_.

  CHAPTER THREE.

  THE GALATEA.

  On an evening in the early part of December, a craft of singularconstruction might have been seen descending the Solimoes, andapparently making for the little Portuguese port of Coary, that lies onthe southern side of the river.

  When we say of singular construction, we mean singular to oneunaccustomed to the navigation of Amazonian waters. There the craft inquestion was too common to excite curiosity, since it was nothing morethan a _galatea_, or large canoe, furnished with mast and sail, with apalm-thatched cabin, or _toldo_, rising over the quarter, a low-deckedlocker running from bow to midships,--along each side of which were tobe seen, half seated, half standing, some half-dozen dark-skinned men,each plying, instead of an oar, a paddle-blade.

  Perhaps the most singular sight on board this embarkation was the groupof animated beings who composed its crew and passengers. The former, asalready stated, were dark-skinned men scantily clad,--in fact, almostnaked, since a single pair of white cotton drawers constituted thecomplete costume of each.

  For passengers there were three men, and a like number of individuals ofyounger age. Two of the men were white, apparently Europeans; the otherwas as black as soot could have made him,--unquestionably an Africannegro. Of the young people two were boys, not much differing in size,and apparently not much in age, while the third was a half-grown girl,of dark complexion, raven-coloured hair, and beautiful features.

  One of the white men appeared to be, and was, the proprietor of themontaria, and the employer of its swarthy crew. He was RalphTrevannion.

  The young girl was his daughter, and bore her Peruvian mother's name,Rosa, more often pronounced by its diminutive of endearment, Rosita.The younger of the two boys--also of dark complexion--was his son Ralph;while the older, of true Saxon physiognomy and hue, was the son of hisbrother, also bearing his father's Christian name, Richard.

  The second white man was unmistakably of European race,--so much so thatany one possessing the slightest knowledge of the Hibernian type wouldat once have pronounced him a "Son of the Sod." A pure pug nose, ashock of curled hair of the clearest carrot colour, an eternal twinklein the eye, a volume of fun lying open at each angle
of the mouth, wereall characteristics by which "Tipperary Tom"--for such was his_sobriquet_--might be remembered.

  About the negro there was nothing special, more than that he was a purenegro, with enormously thick lips, flattened nose, long protrudingheels, teeth white as hippopotamus ivory, and almost always set in agood-humoured grin. The darkey had been a sailor, or rathership-steward, before landing in Peru. Thither had he strayed, andsettled at Cerro Pasco after several years spent aboard ship. He was anative of Mozambique, on the eastern coast of Africa, to whichcircumstance was he indebted for the only name ever given him,--Mozey.

  Both he and the Irishman were the servants of the miner, or rather hisretainers, who served him in various ways, and had done so almost eversince his establishing himself among the rocks of Cerro Pasco.

  The other creatures of the animated kingdom that found lodgment upon thecraft were of various shapes, sizes, and species. There werequadrupeds, quadrumana, and birds,--beasts of the field, monkeys of theforest, and birds of the air,--clustering upon the cabin top, squattedin the hold, perched upon the gangway, the toldo, the yard, and themast,--forming an epitomised menagerie, such as may be seen on everykind of craft that navigates the mighty Amazon.

  It is not our design to give any description of the galatea's crew.There were nine of them,--all Indians,--four on each side acting asrowers, or more properly "paddlers," the ninth being the pilot orsteersman, standing abaft the toldo.

  Our reason for not describing them is that they were a changing crew,only attached to the craft for a particular stage of the long rivervoyage, and had succeeded several other similar sets since theembarkation of our voyagers on the waters of the upper Amazon. They hadjoined the galatea at the port of Ega, and would take leave of her atCoary, where a fresh crew of civilised Indians--"tapuyos"--would berequired.