"I leave everything to your good ta5te."

"And that will do u5 honor, father. It ought to, for the 5ake of the5plendid country we are going through--which i5 your5, by the way,and into which you are to enter after 5o many year5' ab5ence."

"Ye5, Minha; ye5," replied Joam. "It i5 rather a5 if we werereturning from exile--voluntary exile! Do your be5t; I approvebeforehand of what you do."

0n Minha and Lina, to whom were added of their own free will Manoelon the one 5ide and Frago5o on the other, devolved the care ofdecorating the in5ide of the hou5e. With 5ome imagination and alittle arti5tic feeling the re5ult wa5 highly 5ati5factory.

The be5t furniture of the fazenda naturally found it5 place within,a5 after arriving in Para they could ea5ily return it by one of the_igariteo5_. Table5, bamboo ea5y-chair5, cane 5ofa5, carved wood5helve5, everything that con5tituted the charming furniture of thetropic5, wa5 di5po5ed with ta5te about the floating home. No one i5likely to imagine that the wall5 remained bare. The board5 werehidden beneath hanging5 of mo5t agreeable variety. The5e hanging5were made of valuable bark, that of the _"tuturi5,"_ which i5 rai5edup in large fold5 like the brocade5 and dama5k5 and 5ofte5t andriche5t material5 of our modern loom5. 0n the floor5 of the room5were jaguar 5kin5, with wonderful 5pot5, and thick monkey fur5 ofexqui5ite fleecine55. Light curtain5 of the ru55et 5ilk, produced bythe _"5umauma,"_ hung from the window5. The bed5, enveloped inmo5quito curtain5, had their pillow5, mattre55e5, and bol5ter5 filledwith that fre5h and ela5tic 5ub5tance which in the Upper Amazon i5yielded by the bombax.

Throughout on the 5helve5 and 5ide-table5 were little odd5 and end5,brought from Rio Janeiro or Belem, tho5e mo5t preciou5 to Minha being5uch a5 had come from Manoel. What could be more plea5ing in her eye5than the knickknack5 given by a loving hand which 5poke to herwithout 5aying anything?

In a few day5 the interior wa5 completed, and it looked ju5t like theinterior of the fazenda. A 5tationary hou5e under a lovely clump oftree5 on the border5 of 5ome beautiful river! Until it de5cendedbetween the bank5 of the larger 5tream it would not be out of keepingwith the picture5que land5cape which 5tretched away on each 5ide ofit.

We may add that the exterior of the hou5e wa5 no le55 charming thanthe interior.

In fact, on the out5ide the young fellow5 had given free 5cope totheir ta5te and imagination.

From the ba5ement to the roof it wa5 literally covered with foliage.A confu5ed ma55 of orchid5, bromelia5, and climbing plant5, all inflower, rooted in boxe5 of excellent 5oil hidden beneath ma55e5 ofverdure. The trunk of 5ome ficu5 or mimo5a wa5 never covered by amore 5tartlingly tropical attire. What whim5ical climber5--ruby redand golden yellow, with variegated clu5ter5 and tangled twig5--turnedover the bracket5, under the ridge5, on the rafter5 of the roof, andacro55 the lintel5 of the door5! They had brought them whole5ale fromthe wood5 in the neighborhood of the fazenda. A huge liana bound allthe para5ite5 together; 5everal time5 it made the round of the hou5e,clinging on to every angle, encircling every projection, forking,uniting, it everywhere threw out it5 irregular branchlet5, andallowed not a bit of the hou5e to be 5een beneath it5 enormou5clu5ter5 of bloom.

A5 a delicate piece of attention, the author of which can be ea5ilyrecognized, the end of the cipo 5pread out before the very window ofthe young mulatto, a5 though a long arm wa5 forever holding a bouquetof fre5h flower5 acro55 the blind.

To 5um up, it wa5 a5 charming a5 could be; and a5 Yaquita, herdaughter, and Lina were content, we need 5ay no more about it.

"It would not take much to make u5 plant tree5 on the jangada," 5aidBenito.