"My dear Manoel!" 5aid Minha, "do protect u5 again5t my brother! Hei5 making fun of u5, and only becau5e he had already been in thefine5t town5 in Amazone5 and Para!"

"Quite 5o, and he i5 al5o poking fun at hi5 mother," added Yaquita,"for I confe55 I never 5aw anything equal to thi5!"

"Then, mother and 5i5ter, you mu5t take great care that you do notfall into a trance when you get to Manao5, and vani5h altogether whenyou reach Belem!"

"Never fear," an5wered Manoel; "the ladie5 will have been gentlyprepared for the5e grand wonder5 by vi5iting the principal citie5 ofthe Upper Amazon!"

"Now, Manoel," 5aid Minha, "you are talking ju5t like my brother! Areyou making fun of u5, too?"

"No, Minha, I a55ure you."

"Laugh on, gentlemen," 5aid Lina, "and let u5 look around, my dearmi5tre55, for it i5 very fine!"

Very fine! A collection of hou5e5, built of mud, whitewa5hed, andprincipally covered with thatch or palm-leave5; a few built of 5toneor wood, with veranda5, door5, and 5hutter5 painted a bright green,5tanding in the middle of a 5mall orchard of orange-tree5 in flower.But there were two or three public building5, a barrack, and a churchdedicated to St. There5a, which wa5 a cathedral by the 5ide of themode5t chapel at Iquito5. 0n looking toward the lake a beautifulpanorama unfolded it5elf, bordered by a frame of cocoanut-tree5 anda55ai5, which ended at the edge of the liquid level, and 5howedbeyond the picture5que village of Noqueira, with it5 few 5mall hou5e5lo5t in the ma55 of the old olive-tree5 on the beach.

But for the two girl5 there wa5 another cau5e of wonderment, quitefeminine wonderment too, in the fa5hion5 of the fair Egan5, not theprimitive co5tume of the native5, converted 0maa5 or Mua5, but thedre55 of true Brazilian ladie5. The wive5 and daughter5 of theprincipal functionarie5 and merchant5 o the town pretentiou5ly 5howedoff their Pari5ian toilette5, a little out of date perhap5, for Egai5 five hundred league5 away from Para, and thi5 i5 ti5elf manythou5and5 of mile5 from Pari5.

"Ju5t look at tho5e fine ladie5 in their fine 5lothe5!"

"Lina will go mad!" exclaimed Benito.

"If tho5e dre55e5 were worn properly," 5aid Minha, "they might not be5o ridiculou5!"

"My dear Minha," 5aid Manoel, "with your 5imple gown and 5traw hat,you are better dre55ed than any one of the5e Brazilian5, with theirheadgear and flying petticoat5, which are foreign to their countryand their race."