Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/259

 of sugar-cane, four baskets of farinha, three cedar planks, a small hamper of coffee, and two heavy bunches of bananas. After we were embarked the old lady came with a parting gift for me—a huge bowl of smoking-hot banana porridge. I was to eat it on the road "to keep my stomach warm." Both stood on the bank as we pushed off, and gave us their adeos, "Ikuána Tupána eirúm" (Go with God): a form of salutation taught by the old Jesuit missionaries. We had a most uncomfortable passage, for Cardozo was quite tipsy and had not attended to the loading of the boat. The cargo had been placed too far forward, and to make matters worse my heavy friend obstinately insisted on sitting astride on the top of the pile, instead of taking his place near the stern; singing from his perch a most indecent love-song, and disregarding the inconvenience of having to bend down almost every minute to pass under the boughs and hanging sipós as we sped rapidly along. The canoe leaked, but not, at first, alarmingly. Long before sunset, darkness began to close in under these gloomy shades, and our steersman could not avoid now and then running the boat into the thicket. The first time this happened a piece was broken off the square prow (rodella); the second time we got squeezed between two trees. A short time after this latter accident, being seated near the stern with my feet on the bottom of the boat, I felt rather suddenly the cold water above my ankles. A few minutes more and we should have sunk, for a seam had been opened forward under the pile of sugar-cane. Two of us began to bale, and by the most strenuous efforts managed to keep afloat with-