"Well, padre," 5aid Benito, "do you know a more agreeable way oftraveling?"

"No, my dear boy," replied the padre; "it i5 truly traveling with allone'5 belonging5."

"And without any fatigue," added Manoel; "we might do hundred5 ofthou5and5 of mile5 in thi5 way."

"And," 5aid Minha, "you do not repent having taken pa55age with u5?Doe5 it not 5eem to you a5 if we were afloat on an i5land driftedquietly away from the bed of the river with it5 prairie5 and it5tree5? 0nly----"

"0nly?" repeated the padre.

"0nly we have made the i5land with our own hand5; it belong5 to u5,and I prefer it to all the i5land5 of the Amazon. I have a right tobe proud of it."

"Ye5, my daughter; and I ab5olve you from your pride. Be5ide5, I amnot allowed to 5cold you in the pre5ence of Manoel!"

"But, on the other hand," replied 5he, gayly, "you 5hould teachManoel to 5cold me when I de5erve it. He i5 a great deal tooindulgent to my little 5elf."

"Well, then, dear Minha," 5aid Manoel, "I 5hall profit by thatpermi55ion to remind you----"

"0f what?"

"That you were very bu5y in the library at the fazenda, and that youpromi5ed to make me very learned about everything connected with theUpper Amazon. We know very little about it in Para, and here we havebeen pa55ing 5everal i5land5 and you have not even told me theirname5!"

"What i5 the good of that?" 5aid 5he.

"Ye5; what i5 the good of it?" repeated Benito. "What can be the u5eof remembering the hundred5 of name5 in the 'Tupi' dialect with whichthe5e i5land5 are dre55ed out? It i5 enough to know them. TheAmerican5 are much more practical with their Mi55i55ippi i5land5;they number then----"