had we landed before
they had had time to ask questions, very probably have put us all to
death. We have had, indeed, a providential escape."

We found that the slave-dealers and most of their followers had already
taken their departure--probably to avoid rendering us any assistance.
They had only come down to the coast to embark their captives, and had
gone back again, my companion supposed, to obtain a fresh supply. We
found, however, about a dozen men, who came out when Senhor Silva called
them in their own language. When he assured them that we were friends,
and that we would treat them honestly, they agreed, without hesitation,
to act as our bearers as far as the Crystal Mountains. Beyond them they
declined going, saying that they had enemies on the other side who would
certainly, if they found them, kill them, or carry them off as slaves,
or, they added, "very likely eat us, for they are terrible cannibals."
As soon as the arrangement was made, they all came leaping and hooting
and rushing against each other, like a set of school-boys unexpectedly
let loose for a half holiday, or a party of sailors on shore after a
long cruise.

While the blacks were arranging our property into fit packages for
carrying, the two boys and I accompanied David to the mouth of the
river, which, as I said, was lined with mangrove bushes, a ledge of
rocks which ran out some way enabling us to get a view up the stream.
We had thus an opportunity of examining those curious trees.
Innumerable roots rose out of the water, lifting the trunk far above it,
and from its upper part shot off numerous branches with bright green
foliage, which grew in radiated tufts at their ends. Many of them were
bespangled with large gaily-coloured flowers, giving them a far more
attractive appearance than could be supposed, considering the dark,
slimy mud out of which they grew. From the branches and trunk, again,
hung down numberless pendulous roots, which had struck into the ground,
of all thicknesses--some mere thin ropes, others the size of a man's
leg--thus appearing as if the tree was supported by artificial poles
stuck into the ground. David told me that the seeds germinate on the
branches, when, having gained a considerable length, they fall down into
the soft mud, burying themselves by means of their sharp points, and
soon taking root, spring upwards again towards the parent tree. Thus
the mangrove forms an almost impenetrable barrier along t