possible," I answered. We passed this part of the river in the
dark, and might thus have missed them.

Having been exploring the western bank, we were crossing the river at
that moment. As we paddled on, my heart beat with excitement. If it
should be them after all! The people stopped, and seemed to be
observing us. We paddled on with all our might, and they came down
closer to the water. Suddenly Duppo lifted up his paddle and exclaimed,
"Majeronas!" We looked and looked again, still hoping that Duppo might
have been mistaken; but his eyes were keener than ours. Approaching a
little nearer, we were convinced that he was right. To go closer to the
shore, therefore, would be useless and dangerous. We accordingly
paddled back to the side we had just left, where we once more continued
our upward course.

We had parted two days before this from Maono and Illora, who were to
explore part of the bank we had left unvisited, and to meet us again at
the island where we had been so nearly wrecked at the mouth of the
igarape. We had almost reached the spot where we had expected to find
my father and the rest of our family. The shores of the river were
occasionally visited, as we had learned by experience, by the Majeronas,
though not usually inhabited by them. It was therefore necessary to use
great caution when going on shore. We landed, however, whenever we saw
a spot where we thought it possible our friends might have touched on
their voyage, in the hope that they might there have left some signal or
note for us. The banks were here very different from those lower down.
In many places they were composed of sand or clay cliffs of considerable
height, often completely overhanging the river, as if the water had
washed away their bases--indeed, such was undoubtedly the case.
Frequently the trees grew to the very edge of these cliffs, their
branches forming a thick shade over the stream. To avoid the hot sun we
were tempted to keep our canoe close under them, as it was very pleasant
to be able to paddle on in the comparatively cool air. Thus we
proceeded, till we arrived at the spot where we had been so bitterly
disappointed at not finding my family. No one was to be seen, but we
landed, that we might again examine it more carefully. The ground on
which the hut had stood still remained undisturbed, though vegetation
had almost obliterated all the traces of fire. After hunting about in
vain for some time, we took