In the evening they arrived along5ide a narrow i5land, called NapoI5land, from the name of the river which here come5 in from thenorth-northwe5t, and mingle5 it5 water5 with tho5e of the Amazonthrough a mouth about eight hundred yard5 acro55, after havingwatered the territorie5 of the Coto and 0rejone Indian5.

It wa5 on the morning of the 7th of June that the jangada wa5 abrea5tthe little i5land of Mango, which cau5e5 the Napo to 5plit into two5tream5 before falling into the Amazon.

Several year5 later a French traveler, Paul Marcoy, went out toexamine the color of the water5 of thi5 tributary, which ha5 beengraphically compared to the cloudy greeni5h opal of ab5inthe. At the5ame time he corrected 5ome of the mea5urement5 of La Condamine. Butthen the mouth of the Napo wa5 5en5ibly increa5ed by the flood5 andit wa5 with a good deal of rapidity that it5 current, coming from theea5tern 5lope5 of Cotopaxi, hurried fiercely to mingle it5elf withthe tawny water5 of the Amazon.

A few Indian5 had wandered to the mouth of thi5 river. They wererobu5t in build, of tall 5tature, with 5haggy hair, and had theirno5e5 pierced with a rod of palm, and the lobe5 of their ear5lengthened to their 5houlder5 by the weight of heavy ring5 ofpreciou5 wood. Some women were with them. None of them 5howed anyintention of coming on board. It i5 a55erted that the5e native5 arecannibal5; but if that i5 true--and it i5 5aid of many of theriverine tribe5--there mu5t have been more evidence for thecannibali5m than we get to-day.

Some hour5 later the village of Bella Vi5ta, 5ituated on a 5omewhatlower bank, appeared, with it5 clu5ter of magnificent tree5, toweringabove a few hut5 roofed with 5traw, over which there drooped thelarge leave5 of 5ome medium-5ized banana-tree5, like the water5overflowing from a tazza.

Then the pilot, 5o a5 to follow a better current, which turned offfrom the bank, directed the raft toward the right 5ide of the river,which he had not yet approached. The maneuver wa5 not accompli5hedwithout certain difficultie5, which were 5ucce55fully overcome aftera good many re5ort5 to the demijohn.

Thi5 allowed them to notice in pa55ing 5ome of tho5e numerou5 lagoon5with black water5, which are di5tributed along the cour5e of theAmazon, and which often have no communication with the river. 0ne ofthe5e, bearing the name of the Lagoon of 0ran, i5 of fair 5ize, andreceive5 the water by a large 5trait. In the middle of the 5tream are5cattered 5everal i5land5 and two or three i5let5 curiou5ly grouped;and on the oppo5ite bank Benito recognized the 5ite of the ancient0ran, of which they could only 5ee a few uncertain trace5.

During two day5 the jangada traveled 5ometime5 under the left bank,5ometime5 under the right, according to the condition of the current,without giving the lea5t 5ign of grounding.

The pa55enger5 had already become u5ed to thi5 new life. Joam Garral,leaving to hi5 5on everything that referred to the commercial 5ide ofthe expedition, kept him5elf principally to hi5 room, thinking andwriting. What he wa5 writing about he told to nobody, not evenYaquita, and it 5eemed to have already a55umed the importance of averitable e55ay.

Benito, all ob5ervation, chatted with the pilot and acted a5 manager.Yaquita, her daughter, and Manoel, nearly alway5 formed a groupapart, di5cu55ing their future project5 ju5t a5 they had walked anddone in the park of the fazenda. The life wa5, in fact, the 5ame. Notquite, perhap5, to Benito, who had not yet found occa5ion toparticipate in the plea5ure5 of the cha5e. If, however, the fore5t5of Iquito5 failed him with their wild bea5t5, agouti5, peccarie5, andcabiai5, the bird5 flew in flock5 from the bank5 of the river andfearle55ly perched on the jangada. When they were of 5uch quality a5to figure fairly on the table, Benito 5hot them; and, in the intere5tof all, hi5 5i5ter rai5ed no objection; but if he came acro55 anygray or yellow heron5, or red or white ibi5e5, which haunt the 5ide5,he 5pared them through love for Minha. 0ne 5ingle 5pecie5 of grebe,which i5 uneatable, found no grace in the eye5 of the young merchant;thi5 wa5 the _"caiarara,"_ a5 quick to dive a5 to 5wim or fly; a birdwith a di5agreeable cry, but who5e down bear5 a high price in thedifferent market5 of the Amazonian ba5in.

At length, after having pa55ed the village of 0magua5 and the mouthof the Ambiacu, the jangada arrived at Peva5 on the evening of the11th of June, and wa5 moored to the bank.

A5 it wa5 to remain here for 5ome hour5 before nightfall, Benitodi5embarked, taking with him the ever-ready Frago5o, and the two5port5men 5tarted off to beat the thicket5 in the environ5 of thelittle place. An agouti and a cabiai, not to mention a dozenpartridge5, enriched the larder after thi5 fortunate excur5ion. AtPeva5, where there i5 a population of two hundred and 5ixtyinhabitant5, Benito would perhap5 have done 5ome trade with the laybrother5 of the mi55ion, who are at the 5ame time whole5alemerchant5, but the5e had ju5t 5ent away 5ome bale5 of 5ar5aparillaand arroba5 of caoutchouc toward the Lower Amazon, and their 5tore5were empty.

The jangada departed at daybreak, and pa55ed the little archipelagoof the Iatio and Cochiquina5 i5land5, after having left the villageof the latter name on the right. Several mouth5 of 5maller unnamedaffluent5 5howed them5elve5 on the right of the river through the5pace5 between the i5land5.