and the few
poor people who lived there seemed to have very little or nothing to do.
We will, therefore, pass it over, and resume our narrative at the point
when the old trader announced to Barney that the flood was at its height
and they would now continue their journey. They embarked once more in
their old canoe with their goods and chattels, not forgetting Marmoset
and Grampus, whose friendship during their inactive life had become more
close than ever. This friendship was evidenced, chiefly, by the
matter-of-course way in which Grampus permitted the monkey to mount his
back, and ride about the village and through the woods, where dry places
could be found, as long as she pleased. Marmoset was fonder of riding
than walking, so that Grampus had enough to do; but he did not put
himself much about. He trotted, walked, galloped, and lay down, when,
and where, and as often as he chose, without any reference to the small
monkey; and Marmoset held on through thick and thin, and nibbled nuts or
whatever else it picked up, utterly regardless of where it was going to,
or the pace at which it went. It was sharp, though, that small monkey,
sharp as a needle, and had its little black eyes glancing on all sides;
so that when Grampus dashed through under-wood, and the branches
threatened to sweep it off, it ducked its head; or, lying flat down,
shut its eyes and held on with all its teeth and four hands like a
limpet to a rock. Marmoset was not careful as to her attitude on
dog-back. She sat with her face to the front or rear, just as her fancy
or convenience dictated.

After leaving the village they travelled for many days and nights
through the Gapo. Although afloat on the waters of the Amazon, they
never entered the main river after the first few days, but wound their
way, in a creeping, serpentine sort of fashion, through small streams
and lakes and swamps, from which the light was partially excluded by the
thick foliage of the forest. It was a strange scene, that illimitable
watery waste, and aroused new sensations in the breasts of our
travellers. As Barney said, it made him "feel quite solemn-like and
eerie to travel through the woods by wather."

The canoe was forced under branches and among dense bushes, till they
got into a part where the trees were loftier and a deep gloom prevailed.
Here the lowest branches were on a level with the surface of the water,
and many of them were putting forth beautiful flowers.