n feet long, which
still abound in the rivers and lakes of Africa?

But it would be difficult to hinder their destruction. The flesh of
the manatee is excellent, superior even to that of pork, and the oil
furnished by its lard, which is three inches thick, is a product of
great value. When the meat is smoke-dried it keeps for a long time, and
is capital food. If to this is added that the animal is easily caught,
it is not to be wondered at that the species is on its way to complete
destruction.

On the 19th of July, at sunrise, the jangada left Fonteboa, and entered
between the two completely deserted banks of the river, and breasted
some islands shaded with the grand forests of cacao-trees. The sky was
heavily charged with electric cumuli, warning them of renewed storms.

The Rio Jurua, coming from the southwest, soon joins the river on
the left. A vessel can go up it into Peru without encountering
insurmountable obstacles among its white waters, which are fed by a
great number of petty affluents.

"It is perhaps in these parts," said Manoel, "that we ought to look for
those female warriors who so much astonished Orellana. But we ought to
say that, like their predecessors, they do nor form separate tribes;
they are simply the wives who accompany their husbands to the fight, and
who, among the Juruas, have a great reputation for bravery."

The jangada continued to descend; but what a labyrinth the Amazon now
appeared! The Rio Japura, whose mouth was forty-eight miles on ahead,
and which is one of its largest tributaries, runs almost parallel with
the river.

Between them were canals, iguarapes, lagoons, temporary lakes, an
inextricable network which renders the hydrography of this country so
difficult.

But if Araujo had no map to guide him, his experience served him more
surely, and it was wonderful to see him unraveling the chaos, without
ever turning aside from the main river.

In fact, he did so well that on the 25th of July, in the afternoon,
after having passed before the village of Parani-Tapera, the raft was
anchored at the entrance of the Lake of Ego, or Teffe, which it was
useless to enter, for they would not have been able to get out of it
again into the Amazon.

But the town of Ega is of some importance; it was worthy of a halt to
visit it. It was arranged, therefore, that the jangada should remain
on this spot till the 27th of July, and that on the morrow the large
pirogue should take the whole