hot with the arrow by
the natives; they are also taken in great numbers with the hook and the
net.

Dinner was soon ready. Barney concocted an immense and savoury omelet,
and the old trader cooked an excellent turtle-steak, while Martin
prepared a junk of jaguar meat, which he roasted, being curious to taste
it, as he had been told that the Indians like it very much. It was
pretty good, but not equal to the turtle-eggs. The shell of the egg is
leathery, and the yolk only is eaten. The Indians sometimes eat them
raw, mixed with farina. Cakes of farina, and excellent coffee,
concluded their repast; and Barney declared he had never had such a
satisfactory "blow out" in his life; a sentiment with which Martin
entirely agreed, and the old trader--if one might judge from the
expression of his black countenance--sympathised.

For many weeks our adventurers continued to ascend the Amazon, sometimes
sailing before the wind; at other times, when it fell calm, pushing the
montaria up the current by means of long poles, or advancing more easily
with the paddles. Occasionally they halted for a day at the residence
of a wealthy cacao planter, in order to sell him some merchandise; for
which purpose the canoe was unloaded, and the bales were opened out for
his inspection. Most of these planters were Brazilians, a few were
Yankee adventurers, and one or two were Scotch and English; but nearly
all had married Brazilian ladies, who, with their daughters, proved good
customers to the old trader. Some of these ladies were extremely "purty
craturs," as Barney expressed it; but most of them were totally
uneducated and very ignorant,--not knowing half so much as a child of
seven or eight years old in more favoured lands. They were very fond of
fine dresses and ornaments, of which considerable supplies were sent to
them from Europe and the United States, in exchange for the valuable
produce of their country. But although their dresses were fine and
themselves elegant, their houses were generally very poor affairs--made
of wood and thatched with broad leaves; and it was no uncommon thing to
see a lady, who seemed from her gay dress to be fitted for a
drawing-room, seated on an earthen floor. But there were all sorts of
extremes in this strange land; for at the next place they came to,
perhaps, they found a population of Negroes and Indians, and most of the
grown-up people were half naked, while all the children were entirely
so.