VOYAGE UP THE RIO NEGRO 273 
for if not they would have made no scruple of 
running away or of engaging themselves to some 
other patron. Throughout the Amazon and its 
branches the vessels are all manned by Indians, 
and as the latter are not sufficiently numerous for 
the traffic, the negocimttes have a very bad habit 
of stealing Indians from one another, going them- 
selves or sending emissaries with cachaca by night, 
and making the Indians dead drunk, then tumbling 
them into the canoe like so many logs and setting 
sail immediately. When the Indian wakes up from 
his drunken sleep he finds himself far from port 
and embarked on a voyage he dreamt not of 
undertaking ; little, however, cares he for this : he 
is like the ass who had no fear of being taken 
by the enemy, knowing that it would make little 
difference in the weight of his burden. Tempta- 
tion of this kind was not wanting to my Indians, 
but by exercising a little vigilance I was able 
to keep them all together until the hour of em- 
barking ; and once away from the Barra they were 
all as obedient and industrious as I could wish 
for. 
When I left the Barra there was great difficulty 
in procuring provisions. Owing to the waters of 
the Amazon not falling as usual, no pirarucii had 
as yet been procured, and that is considered the 
staple provision for voyages in this region. As a 
substitute, Senhor Henrique and I bought a young 
bullock between us, and I had one-half of it salted 
down for the voyage. I bought also as many 
turtles as I could find in the Barra, and I bought a 
few more on the voyage of a man whom I encoun- 
tered coming out of the mouth of a small river near 
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