Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/248

 216 TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. [August,

a day or two more returned, and brought me some letters and papers from Barra. There also came a letter to Senhor L. from the Delegarde de Policia in Barra, saying, that Manoel Joaquim had presented himself, and that he (the Delegarde) had asked him if he came a prisoner ; that he replied, " No ; he came to attend to his own business." " Well, then," said the Delegarde, "as you have not been incommoded by this indictment, it is better to treat these slanders and quarrels with disdain ; " and said he to Senhor L., " I would advise you to do the same." And so ended the attempt to punish a man who, if one-half the crimes imputed to him were true, ought, by the laws of Brazil, to have been hung, or imprisoned for life. The poor Subdelegarde, it seems, through pure ignorance, committed some informalities, and this was the reason why Manoel Joaquim so easily and gloriously escaped.

The best of it is that there is a special officer in Barra and in every other city, called the " Promotor Publico," whose sole duty it is to see that all the other officers of justice and of police do their duty, so that no criminal may escape or injustice be done, by the laxity or connivance of any of these parties. Yet, with all this, nothing is easier in the Rio Negro, than for any person possessed of friends or money, to defeat the ends of justice.

I now found another unavoidable delay in my projected voyage to Barra. A canoe that was making for me was not yet ready, and I did not know where to obtain one sufficiently capacious to take all my luggage and collections : but, a few days after, a Spaniard, or Venezuelano, arrived at Guia with a canoe for Manoel Joaquim ; and as he was to return by Mara- bitdnas, I took the opportunity of writing to the Commandante, asking the loan of his igarite, for the voyage to Barra and back. He very kindly consented, and in about a week I received it ; but I was as badly off as ever, for a canoe without men was of no use ; and the Indians, fearing the results of Manoel Joaquim's return, had all left Guia, and retired to their sitios in distant igaripes, and in the most inaccessible depths of the forest. The Commandante had sent orders to two Indians to go with me, but these were not sufficient to descend the falls with safety ; so, as Senhor L. was about to remove to Sao Joaquim, at the mouth of the Uaup£s, I agreed to go with him, and try and procure more men there. My Indians took nearly a fortnight