312 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



and should by rights be punished as such. We could not 

 trust him to cut down palms or gather nuts, because he 

 would stay out and eat what ought to have gone into the 

 common store. Finally, the men on several occasions 

 themselves detected him stealing their food. Alone of 

 the whole party, and thanks to the stolen food, he had 

 kept in full flesh and bodily vigor. 



One of our best men was a huge negro named Paixao 

 — Paishon — a corporal and acting sergeant in the engi- 

 neer corps. He had, by the way, literally torn his trou- 

 sers to pieces, so that he wore only the tatters of a pair of 

 old drawers until I gave him my spare trousers when we 

 lightened loads. He was a stern disciplinarian. One 

 evening he detected Julio stealing food and smashed him 

 in the mouth. Julio came crying to us, his face working 

 with fear and malignant hatred; but after investigation 

 he was told that he had gotten off uncommonly lightly. 

 The men had three or four carbines, which were some- 

 times carried by those who were not their owners. 



On this morning, at the outset of the portage, Pedrin- 

 ho discovered Julio stealing some of the men's dried meat. 

 Shortly afterward Paishon rebuked him for, as usual, 

 lagging behind. By this time we had reached the place 

 where the canoes were tied to the bank and then taken 

 down one at a time. We were sitting down, waiting for 

 the last loads to be brought along the trail. Pedrinho was 

 still in the camp we had left. Paishon had just brought 

 in a load, left it on the ground with his carbine beside it, 

 and returned on the trail for another load. Julio came 

 in, put down his load, picked up the carbine, and walked 

 back on the trail, muttering to himself but showing no 



