2l6 



TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 



[August f 



a day or two more returned, and brought me some letters and 

 papers from Barra. There also came a letter to Senhor L. 

 from the Delegarde de Policia in Barra, saying, that Manoel 

 Joaquim had presented himself, and that he (the Delegarde) 

 had asked him if he came a prisoner ; that he replied, " No ; 

 he came to attend to his own business." " Well, then," said 

 the Delegarde, "as you have not been incommoded by this 

 indictment, it is better to treat these slanders and quarrels with 

 disdain ; " and said he to Senhor L., " I would advise you to 

 do the same." And so ended the attempt to punish a man 

 who, if one-half the crimes imputed to him were true, ought, by 

 the laws of Brazil, to have been hung, or imprisoned for life. 

 The poor Subdelegarde, it seems, through pure ignorance, 

 committed some informalities, and this was the reason why 

 Manoel Joaquim so easily and gloriously escaped. 



The best of it is that there is a special officer in Barra and 

 in every other city, called the " Promotor Publico," whose sole 

 duty it is to see that all the other officers of justice and of 

 police do their duty, so that no criminal may escape or injustice 

 be done, by the laxity or connivance of any of these parties. 

 Yet, with all this, nothing is easier in the Rio Negro, than for 

 any person possessed of friends or money, to defeat the ends 

 of justice. 



I now found another unavoidable delay in my projected 

 voyage to Barra. A canoe that was making for me was not 

 yet ready, and I did not know where to obtain one sufficiently 

 capacious to take all my luggage and collections : but, a few 

 days after, a Spaniard, or Venezuelano, arrived at Guia with a 

 canoe for Manoel Joaquim ; and as he was to return by Mara- 

 bitinas, I took the opportunity of writing to the Commandante, 

 asking the loan of his igarite, for the voyage to Barra and back. 

 He very kindly consented, and in about a week I received it ; 

 but I was as badly off as ever, for a canoe without men was of 

 no use ; and the Indians, fearing the results of Manoel Joaquim's 

 return, had all left Guia, and retired to their sitios in distant 

 igaripes, and in the most inaccessible depths of the forest. 

 The Commandante had sent orders to two Indians to go with 

 me, but these were not sufficient to descend the falls with safety ; 

 so, as Senhor L. was about to remove to Sao Joaquim, at the 

 mouth of the Uaupes, I agreed to go with him, and try and 

 procure more men there. My Indians took nearly a fortnight 



