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

by Mayne Reid

"What is it?" demanded Richard. "I see a great tree, loaded withclimbers as you say. But what of that? It is green, and growing. Thewood is full of sap, and would scarce float itself; you can't constructa raft out of that. The sipos might serve well enough for rope; but thetimber won't do, even if we had an axe to cut it down."

  "The Mundurucu needs no axe, nor yet timber to construct his raft. Allhe wants here is the sap of that tree, and some of the sipos clinging toits branches. The timber we shall find on the sapucaya, after we goback. Look at the tree, young master! Do you not know it?"

  The Paraense, thus appealed to, turned his eyes toward the tree, andscanned it more carefully. Festooned by many kinds of climbing plants,it was not so easy to distinguish its foliage from that of the parasitesit upheld; enough of the leaves, however, appeared conspicuous to enablehim to recognise the tree as one of the best known and most valuable tothe inhabitants, not only of his native Para, but of all the Amazonianregion, "Certainly," he replied, "I see what sort of tree it is. It'sthe _Seringa_,--the tree from which they obtain caoutchouc. But what doyou want with that? You can't make a raft out of India-rubber, canyou?"

  "You shall see, young master; you shall see!"

  During this conversation the Mundurucu had mounted among the branches ofthe seringa, calling upon his companion to come after him, who hastilyresponded to the call.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

  THE SYRINGE-TREE.

  The tree into whose top the swimmers had ascended was, as Richard hadrightly stated, that from which the caoutchouc, or India-rubber, isobtained. It was the _Siphonia elastica_, of the order _Euphorbiaceae_,of the Amazonian valley. Not that the _Siphonia_ is the only tree whichproduces the world-renowned substance, which has of late years effectedalmost a revolution in many arts, manufactures, and domestic economiesof civilised life. There are numerous other trees, both in the Old andNew World, most of them belonging to the famed family of the figs, whichin some degree afford the caoutchouc of commerce. Of all, however, thatyielded by the _Siphonia elastica_ is the best, and commands the highestprice among dealers. The young Paraense called it _Seringa_, and thisis the name he had been accustomed to hear given to it. _Seringa_ issimply the Portuguese for syringe, and the name has attached itself tothe tree, because the use which the aborigines were first observed tomake of the elastic tubes of the caoutchouc was that of squirts orsyringes, the idea being suggested by their noticing the natural tubesformed by the sap around twigs, when flowing spontaneously from thetree. For syringes it is employed extensively to this day by Braziliansof all classes, who construct them by moulding the sap, while in itsfluid state, into pear-shaped bottles, and inserting a piece of cane inthe long neck.

  The caoutchouc is collected in the simplest way, which affords a regularbusiness to many Amazonians, chiefly native Indians, who dispose of itto the Portuguese or Brazilian traders. The time is in August, when thesubsidence of the annual inundation permits approach to the trees; forthe _Seringa_ is one of those species that prefer the low flooded lands,though it is not altogether peculiar to the Gapo. It grows throughoutthe whole region of the Amazon, wherever the soil is alluvial andmarshy. The India-rubber harvest, if we may use the term, continuesthroughout the dry months, during which time very large quantities ofthe sap are collected, and carried over to the export market of Para. Anumber of trees growing within a prescribed circle are allotted to eachindividual, whose business it is--man, woman, or boy--to attend to theassigned set of trees; and this is the routine of their day's duty.

  In the evening the trees are tapped; that is, a gash or incision is madein the bark,--each evening in a fresh place,--and under each iscarefully placed a little clay cup, or else the shell of an_Ampullasia_, to catch the milky sap that oozes from the wound. Aftersunrise in the morning, the "milkers" again revisit the scene ofoperations, and empty all the cups into a large vessel, which is carriedto one common receptacle. By this time the sap, which is still of awhite colour, is of the consistency of cream, and ready for moulding.The collectors have already provided themselves with moulds of manykinds, according to the shape they wish the caoutchouc to assume, suchas shoes, round balls, bottles with long necks, and the like. These aredipped into the liquid, a thin stratum of which adheres to them, to bemade thicker by repeated immersions, until the proper dimensions areobtained. After the last coat has been laid on, lines and ornamentaltracings are made upon the surface, while still in a soft state; and arich brown colour is obtained by passing the articles repeatedly througha thick black smoke, given out by a fire of palm-wood,--several speciesof these trees being specially employed for this purpose. As the mouldsare usually solid substances, and the shoes, balls, and bottles are cast_on_, and not _in_ them, it may be wondered how the latter can be takenoff, or the former got out. King George would have been as badlypuzzled about this, as he was in regard to the apples in the pudding.The idea of the Amazonian aboriginal, though far more ingenious, isequally easy of explanation. His bottle-moulds are no better than ballsof dried mud, or clay; and so too, the lasts upon which he fashions theIndia-rubber shoes. Half an hour's immersion in water is sufficient torestore them to their original condition of soft mud; when a littlescraping and washing completes the manufacture, and leaves the commodityin readiness for the merchant and the market.

  The _Seringa_ is not a tree of very distinguished appearance, and butfor its valuable sap might be passed in a forest of Amazonia, where somany magnificent trees meet the eye, without eliciting a remark. Bothin the colour of its bark and the outline of its leaves it bears aconsiderable resemblance to the European ash,--only that it grows to afar greater size, and with a stem that is branchless, often to theheight of thirty or forty feet above the ground. The trunk of that onwhich the Mundurucu and his companion had climbed was under water tothat depth, else they could not so easily have ascended. It was growingin its favourite situation,--the Gapo,--its top festooned, as we havesaid, with scores of parasitical plants, of many different species,forming a complete labyrinth of limbs, leaves, fruits, and flowers.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

  A BATTLE WITH BIRDS.

  Scarce had the Paraense succeeded in establishing himself on the tree,when an exclamation from his companion, higher up among the branches,caused him to look aloft. "Hoo-hoo!" was the cry that came from thelips of the Mundurucu, in a tone of gratification.

  "What is it, Munday?"

  "Something good to eat, master?"

  "I'm glad to hear it. I feel hungry enough in all conscience; and thesesapucaya nuts don't quite satisfy me. I'd like a little fish or fleshmeat along with them."

  "It's neither," rejoined the Indian. "Something as good, though. It'sfowl! I've found an arara's nest."

  "O, a macaw! But where is the bird? You haven't caught it yet?"

  "Haven't I?" responded the Mundurucu, plunging his arm elbow-deep into acavity in the tree-trunk; and dragging forth a half-fledged bird, nearlyas big as a chicken. "Ah, a nest! young ones! Fat as butter too!"

  "All right. We must take them back with us. Our friends in thesapucaya are hungry as we, and will be right glad to see such anaddition to the larder."

  But Richard's reply was unheard; for, from the moment that the Mundurucuhad pulled the young macaw out of its nest, the creature set up such ascreaming and flopping of its half-fledged wings, as to fill all thewoods around. The discordant ululation was taken up and repeated by acompanion within the cavity; and then, to the astonishment of the twain,half a score of similar screaming voices were heard issuing fromdifferent places higher up in the tree, where it was evident there wereseveral other cavities, each containing a nest full of young araras.

  "A regular breeding-place, a macaw-cot," cried Richard, laughing as hespoke. "We'll get squabs enough to keep us all for a week!"

  The words had scarce passed his lips, when a loud clangour reverberatedupon the air. It was a confused mixture of noises,--a screaming andchattering,--that bore some resemblance to the human vo
ice; as if half ascore of Punches were quarrelling with as many Judys at the same time.The sounds, when first heard, were at some distance; but before twentycould have been counted, they were uttered close to the ears of theMundurucu, who was highest up, while the sun became partially obscuredby the outspread wings of a score of great birds, hovering in hurriedflight around the top of the seringa. There was no mystery about thematter. The new-comers were the parents of the young macaws--the ownersof the nests--returning from a search for provender for their pets,whose piercing cries had summoned them in all haste to their home. Asyet, neither the Indian nor his young companion conceived any cause foralarm. Foolish indeed to be frightened by a flock of birds! They werenot allowed to indulge long in this comfortable equanimity; for, almoston the moment of their arrival above the tree, the united parentage ofararas plunged down among the branches, and, with wing, beak, andtalons, began an instant and simultaneous attack upon the intruders.The Indian was the first to receive their onset. Made in such a unitedand irresistible manner, it had the effect of causing him to let go thechick, which fell with a plunge into the water below. In its descent itwas accompanied by half a dozen of the other birds,--its own parents,perhaps, and their more immediate friends,--and these, for the firsttime espying a second enemy farther down, directed their attack uponhim. The force of the assailants was thus divided; the larger numbercontinued their onslaught upon the Indian, though the young Paraense atthe same time found his hands quite full enough in defending himself,considering that he carried nothing in the shape of a weapon, and thathis body, like that of his comrade, was altogether unprotected byvestments. To be sure, the Mundurucu was armed with a sharp knife,which he had brought along with him in his girdle; but this was of verylittle use against his winged enemies; and although he succeeded instriking down one or two of them, it was done rather by a blow of thefist than by the blade.

  In a dozen seconds both had received almost as many scratches from thebeaks and talons of the birds, which still continued the combat with afury that showed no signs of relaxation or abatement. The Paraense didnot stay either to take counsel or imitate the example of his more sagecompanion, but, hastily bending down upon the limb whereon he had beenmaintaining the unequal contest, he plunged headforemost into the water.Of course a "header" from such a height carried him under the surface;and his assailants, for the moment missing him, flew back into thetree-top, and joined in the assault on Munday. The latter, who had bythis become rather sick of the contest, thinking of no better plan,followed his comrade's example. Hastily he flung himself into theflood, and, first diving below the surface, came up beside the Paraense,and the two swam away side by side in silence, each leaving behind him atiny string of red; for the blood was flowing freely from the scratchesreceived in their strange encounter.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

  A CONTEST WITH CUDGELS.

  Our discomfited adventurers did not swim far from the seringa, for thebirds did not follow them. Satisfied with seeing the burglars fairlybeyond the boundaries of their domicile, the tenants of the treereturned to their nests, as if to ascertain what amount of damage hadbeen done. In a short time the commotion had almost subsided, thoughthere was heard an occasional scream,--the wail of the bereaved parents;for the helpless squab, after struggling a while on the surface of thewater, had gone suddenly out of sight. There was no danger, therefore,of further molestation from their late assailants, so long as theyshould be left in quiet possession of the seringa, and therefore therewas no further necessity for the two swimmers to retreat. A newintention had shaped itself in Munday's mind by this time, and heexpressed his determination to return, to the surprise of the youth, whoasked his purpose.

  "Partly the purpose for which we first climbed it, and partly," addedhe, with an angry roll of his almond-shaped eyes, "to obtain revenge. AMundurucu is not to be bled in this fashion, even by birds, withoutdrawing blood in return. I don't go out from this _igarape_ till I'vekilled every arara, old as well as young, in that accursed tree, orchased the last of them out of it. Follow, and I'll show you how."

  The Indian turned his face towards the thicket of tree-tops forming oneside of the water arcade, and with a stroke or two brought himselfwithin reach of some hanging parasites, and climbed up, bidding Richardfollow. Once more they were shut in among the tops of what appeared tobe a gigantic mimosa. "It will do," muttered the Mundurucu drawing hisknife and cutting a stout branch, which he soon converted into a cudgelof about two feet in length. This he handed to his companion, and then,selecting a second branch of still stouter proportions, fashioned asimilar club for himself.

  "Now," said he, after having pruned the sticks to his satisfaction,"we're both armed, and ready to give battle to the araras, with a betterchance of coming off victorious. Let us lose no time. We have otherwork to occupy us, and your friends will be impatient for our return."Saying this, he let himself down into the water, and turned towards theseringa. His _protege_ made no protest, but followed instantly after.Tightly clutching their cudgels, both reascended the seringa, andrenewed the battle with the birds. The numbers were even more unequalthan before; but this time the advantage was on the side of theintruders.

  Striking with their clubs of heavy acacia-wood, the birds fell at everyblow, until not one arara fluttered among the foliage. Most of thesehad fallen wounded upon the water; a few only, seeing certaindestruction before them, took flight into the far recesses of theflooded forest. The Mundurucu, true to his promise, did not leave aliving bird upon the tree.

  One after another, he hauled the half-fledged chicks from their nests;one after another, twisted their necks; and then, tying their legstogether with a sipo, he separated the bunch into two equally-balancedparts, hanging it over a limb of the tree. "They can stay there till eecome back, which will be soon. And now let us accomplish the purposefor which we came here!" Laying aside the club that had made such havocamong the macaws, he drew the knife from his girdle. Selecting a spoton one of the larger limbs of the seringa, he made an incision in thebark, from which the milky juice immediately flowed.

  He had made provision against any loss of the precious fluid in theshape of a pair of huge monkey-pots, taken from a sapucaya while on theway, and which had been all the while lying in their place of deposit ina network of parasites. One of these he gave Richard, to hold under thetap while he made a second incision upon a longer limb of the seringa.Both nutshells were quickly filled with the glutinous juice, which soonbegan to thicken and coagulate like rich cream. The lids were restoredto their places, and tied on with sipos, and then a large quantity ofthis natural cordage was collected and made up into a portable shape.This accomplished, the Mundurucu signified his intention of returning tothe castaways; and, after apportioning part of the spoil to hiscompanion, set out on the way they had come. The young Paraense swamclose in his wake, and in ten minutes they had re-traversed the igarape,and saw before them the bright sun gilding the Gapo at its embouchure,that appeared like the mouth of some subterraneous cavern.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  CHASED BY A JACARe.

  A few more strokes would have carried the swimmers clear of the waterarcade. Richard was already congratulating himself on the prospect ofescaping from the gloomy shadow, when all at once his companion started,raised his head high above the surface, and gazed backward along thedark arcade. As he did so, an exclamation escaped him, which only couldbe one of alarm. "A monster!" cried the Mundurucu.

  "A monster! What sort? where?"

  "Yonder,--just by the edge of the igarape,--close in to the trees,--hisbody half hid under the hanging branches."

  "I see something like the trunk of a dead tree, afloat upon the water.A monster you say, Munday? What do you make it out to be?"

  "The body of a big reptile,--big enough to swallow us both. It's the_Jacare-uassu_. I heard its plunge. Did not you?"

  "I heard nothing like a plunge, except that made by ourselves inswimming."

 
; "No matter. There was such a noise but a moment ago. See! the monsteris again in motion. He is after us!"

  The dark body Richard had taken for the drifting trunk of a tree was nowin motion, and evidently making direct for himself and his companion.The waves, undulating horizontally behind it, proclaimed the strokes ofits strong, vertically flattened tail, by which it was propelled throughthe water.

  "The jacare-uassu!" once more exclaimed the Mundurucu, signifying thatthe reptile was the great alligator of the Amazon.

  It was one of the largest size, its body showing full seven yards abovethe water, while its projecting jaws, occasionally opened in menace orfor breath, appeared of sufficient extent to swallow either of theswimmers.

  It was idle for them to think of escaping through the water. At ease asthey both were in this element, they would have proved but clumsycompetitors with a cayman, especially one of such strength and natatoryskill as belong to the huge reptile in pursuit of them. Such aswimming-match was not to be thought of, and neither entertained theidea of it.

  "We must take to the trees!" cried the Indian, convinced that thealligator was after them. "The Great Spirit is good to make them growso near. It's the only chance we have for saving our lives. To thetrees, young master,--to the trees!"

  As he spoke, the Mundurucu faced towards the forest; and, with quick,energetic strokes, they glided under the hanging branches. Most nimblythey climbed the nearest, and, once lodged upon a limb, were safe; andon one of the lowest they "squatted," to await the approach of thejacare. In about three seconds the huge saurian came up, pausing as itapproached the spot where the two intended victims had ascended out ofits reach. It seemed more than surprised,--in fact, supremelyastonished; and for some moments lay tranquil, as if paralysed by itsdisappointment. This quietude, however, was of short duration; for soonafter, as if conscious of having been tricked, it commenced quarteringthe water in short diagonal lines, which every instant was lashed intofoam by a stroke of its powerful tail.