322 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



table man, who also gave us a duck and a chicken and some 

 mandioc and six pounds of rice, and would take no payment; 

 he lived in a roomy house with his dusky, cigar-smoking 

 wife and his many children. The new canoe was light and 

 roomy, and we were able to rig up a low shelter under 

 which I could lie; I was still sick. At noon we passed 

 the mouth of a big river, the Rio Branco, coming in from 

 the left; this was about in latitude 9 38'. Soon after- 

 ward we came to the first serious rapids, the Panela. We 

 carried the boats past, ran down the empty canoes, and 

 camped at the foot in a roomy house. The doctor bought 

 a handsome trumpeter bird, very friendly and confiding, 

 which was thenceforth my canoe companion. 



We had already passed many inhabited and a still 

 larger number of uninhabited houses. The dwellers were 

 rubber-men, but generally they were permanent settlers 

 also, home-makers, with their wives and children. Some, 

 both of the men and women, were apparently of pure 

 negro blood, or of pure Indian or south European blood; 

 but in the great majority all three strains were mixed in 

 varying degrees. They were most friendly, courteous, and 

 hospitable. Often they refused payment for what they 

 could afford, out of their little, to give us. When they did 

 charge, the prices were very high, as was but just, for they 

 live back of the beyond, and everything costs them fabu- 

 lously, save what they raise themselves. The cool, bare 

 houses of poles and palm thatch contained little except 

 hammocks and a few simple cooking-utensils; and often 

 a clock or sewing-machine, or Winchester rifle, from our 

 own country. They often had flowers planted, including 

 fragrant roses. Their only live stock, except the dogs, were 



