Chapter 16 Chapter 16 Egar City

At six o'clock in the morning on July 26th, Yaquita, Mina, Lina and the two boys were preparing to leave the big raft. Joam.Although Galar didn't want to go ashore, under the plea of ​​his wife and daughter, this time he decided to put down his busy work and accompany them on a tour. Manoel was delighted that Torres did not want to visit Ega, whom he hated so much that he never lost time to show it. As for Fragoso, Ega interested him for a different reason than Tabatinga, which was a small town compared with this one. Ega, however, was a capital of fifteen hundred inhabitants, in which lived all the leading figures in the administration of a large city (compared to the region), including army commanders, police chiefs, civil judges, criminal Judges, primary school teachers, and various commanders of militia units.

Although the lovely boy had nothing to do in Ega, he still decided to go to the city, because Lina wanted to accompany the lady; but when he was about to go ashore, he obeyed Lina's request and stayed. Mr. Fragoso?She pulled him aside and said. What's the matter, Miss Lina?asked Fragoso. I think your friend Torres doesn't want to go to Ega with us. Yes, he may be on board, Miss Lina, please don't call him my friend. But it was you who advised him to take the raft, before he thought of it himself. Well, to tell you the truth, I think I did a stupid thing that day! Well, to tell you the truth, I don't like this Mr. Torres very much.

I don't like him either, Miss Lina, I feel like I've seen him somewhere.Although I can't remember clearly, one thing is certain: I didn't have a good impression of him at the time! Have you seen this Torres?Where?when?Don't you remember anything at all?Maybe we'll learn from this who he was, and especially what he used to do! Don't I think long ago?In which country?under what conditions?I can't remember. Mr. Fragoso? Miss Lina! You must stay on board and monitor Torres while we are away! What!Fragoso said loudly, I can't accompany you to Ega, I won't see you all day!

I beg you! Is it an order? It's a request! Well, I stay on board. Mr. Fragoso! Miss Lina! Thanks! Thank me with a handshake!Fragoso said, it should be! Lina gave the honest young man his hand, and he held the girl's hand for a long time, gazing into her lovely face.So instead of getting into the canoe, Fragoso remained on the raft, spying on Torres.Was Torres aware of the crowd's dislike for him?Maybe, maybe not, he had reason to ignore it. From the anchorage to the city of Ega is about four ancient miles.There were six men in the canoe, plus two slaves rowing.It takes eight Guli to come and go, and it takes several hours to walk.Although there is a layer of light clouds in the sky, the temperature is still too high to make people feel tired.

Luckily, a cool breeze from the northwest meant it was possible to sail downwind on Lake Tefi as long as the wind stayed the same.Eggar could be reached quickly without even tacking, and the return journey would be equally quick. Latin sails were hoisted from the masts of the boats.With Benito at the helm, Lina signaled Fragoso to keep a close watch on Torres one last time, and the boat set sail. Ega can be reached by sailing along the lake's angular shores.Two hours later, the boat moored at the port.Ega used to be a missionary station built by the Carmelites. It became a city in 1719, and it was completely taken over by General Gama in Brazil.

They disembarked near a flat sandy place.There are not only a few local ships moored here, but also several twenty-two-masted schooners, which will sail along the Atlantic coast. When the two girls entered the city of Ega, they were amazed. Oops!What a big city!Mina gasped. So many houses!so many people!Lina sighed, her eyes widening to see better. I feel the same, Benito said with a smile, more than 1,500 residents, more than 200 houses, including several buildings, two or three streets, real streets, separating the houses! Dear Manoel, said Mina, take care of my brother!He's laughing at us because he's been to some of the prettier cities in Amazonas and Pará!

Well, he'll have to laugh at his mother too, Yaquita went on, because I must admit I've never seen such a beautiful place! Take care, then, mother and little sister, said Benito, for you will be ecstatic if you come to Manao, and faint if you come to Belem! Don't worry!After visiting a few cities in the upper Amazon region, Manoel said with a smile, they will gradually get used to the awe-inspiring things. Why, you too, Manoel, said Mina, and sound like my brother?You laugh at us too? No, Mina!I swear. Let these gentlemen laugh!Lina said, Look, madam, how beautiful these buildings are!

It is indeed very beautiful!The houses in this neighborhood are either earthen or whitewashed, and most of them are covered with thatch or palm leaves. In the middle of a small orange-blossoming orchard there are several stone and The doors and shutters were painted a stark green.There are also two or three civil buildings, a barracks, and a church dedicated to St. Thales, which is a cathedral compared to the chapel in Iquitos. Then, looking back at Lake Tefi, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful scenery.Around the lake, there are patches of cocoa forest and Asayi forest. The trees are reflected in the water, and the level is like a mirror. Three miles away from the opposite bank is the picturesque Nogaia village. You can vaguely see the ancient village hidden on the sand in the village. cottages among the olive groves.

There was another thing that astonished the two girls, and it was a woman's surprise: the elegant and beautiful dress of the women of Ega, not the primitive attire of the Indian women of Omas or Milas, but Real Brazilian women's dress up!Indeed, the attire and attire of the wives and daughters of the rich and powerful in the city imitated Parisian fashion, which was a little outdated and artificial.It is more than five hundred miles from Pala, and Pala is thousands of miles away from Paris. Look, madam, look, how beautiful the dresses of these fair ladies are! Lina is going crazy!cried Benito.

These costumes wouldn't be so ridiculous if they were properly worn!Mina said. Dear Mina, said Manoel, even in your plain cotton skirt and straw hat, you look better and better than these Brazilian women with their bonnets and frilly skirts.This attire belonged neither to their country nor to their nation! If you like me dressed like this, said Mina, there's no one I can envy! But since it's here, let's take a look.They wandered the streets and saw more stalls than shops; they went to the square for a walk and met many gentlemen and ladies whose European attire was really suffocating; ) in a restaurant whose cooking is strongly reminiscent of the good home-cooked meals on the great raft.

The meals are all turtle meat cooked in various ways.After the meal, the Galar family came to the lake for the last time to enjoy the beautiful scenery, but the afterglow of the setting sun cast the lake surface into gold; then, everyone returned to the canoe and felt a little bit about the city that can be visited in only one hour. Disappointed, it's not nearly as gorgeous as I thought it would be, and it's tiring to walk the hot streets that aren't as pretty as the shaded walks of Iquitos.But Lina, who was curious, was not the same. She was no less interested than when she came. Everyone took their places on the boat.The wind is still northwest, and it cools down as night falls.The boat set off.They returned by the way they had come in the morning, fed by the black lake of Tefi.According to the old Indians, the southwestern direction of Tefe Lake is navigable, and it takes forty days to travel.At eight o'clock in the evening the boat came back to anchor beside the raft. Lina pulled Fragosso aside and asked impatiently: Mr. Fragoso, do you see anything suspicious? Nothing, Miss Lina, replied Fragoso, and Torres stayed in the room reading and never left. Did he not enter the master's room or the dining room?That's all I worry about. No, all the time he was away from the house he had been walking on the prow. What did he do on his walks? He held an old piece of paper in his hand, looked at it carefully, and muttered some inexplicable words. These may not be as insignificant as you think, Mr. Fragoso!What he read, what he wrote, and this old paper, may all be famous!The man who read and wrote was neither a professor nor a jurist! You are right! Let us continue to keep an eye on him, Mr. Fragoso. Watch him together forever, Miss Lina.Fragoso said. The next day, July 27, as soon as the sun rose, Benito ordered the pilot to set sail. Passing between two small islands in the Bay of Arnabe, the mouth of the Gabra River, 6,600 feet wide, was clearly visible for a while.This important tributary flows into the Amazon through eight estuaries, as if into some ocean or bay.The river rushes down from the high mountains of the distant Republic of Ecuador, and joins some waterfalls at a distance of two hundred and ten miles from the main river. All day long the raft sailed towards Abra Island, beyond which the river became clear and easier to navigate.The slowness of the current allowed the raft to avoid some small islands with ease, so that there was never a collision or grounding. The next day, the big raft sailed across the vast river beaches.The river beach is covered with undulating sand dunes, and between the sand dunes, there are patches of vast pastures, enough to feed livestock all over Europe.This beach is home to the largest number of turtles in the Upper Amazon. On the night of July 29, the big raft docked firmly on the edge of Kathu Island.Everyone planned to spend the night here, because it was very dark. On this island, as soon as the sun rises on the horizon, there is a group of Mullah Indians.They are descendants of the ancient and powerful Mula tribe.In the past, this tribe once occupied more than 100 acres of beach between the Tefe River and the Matai River. The group of Indians walked up and down, observing the raft which had been drifting and now stopped.There are only more than a hundred of them, and each of them has a long blowpipe, which is made of a unique local reed. In order to make it strong, the trunk of a dwarf palm tree has been pumped out of the sap to make a sleeve on it. Joam.Gallal put down the work that took up all his time, and told everyone to be careful not to anger the Indians.Because of the disparity in strength between the two sides.Mulla people are extremely flexible, and can blow out sharp arrows with a long blowpipe three hundred steps away, killing people. Because these arrows are made of the leaves of a palm tree called Gugulit, wrapped in cotton, ten inches long, sharp as needles, and soaked in the poison of Gulal. Gulal, also known as Ula, according to the Indians, this liquid can poison all living things.It is made by mixing the sap of a large Chao family plant, bulbous nuxychon sap, viper pulp and viper hook tooth juice. It is indeed a terrible poison, said Manoel, which penetrates directly into the nervous system which controls the will.But the heart is unaffected and it keeps beating until other major organs stop.However, no antidote has been found for this venom that numbs the limbs when it comes up. Fortunately, this group of Ramu showed no hostility, although they harbored a deep-rooted hatred for white people.They are indeed different from their ancestors. When night fell, a five-hole flute played several small tunes in the bushes behind the island, and the other flute responded immediately. This kind of communication with music lasted for two or three minutes, and then the Mulla people went to disappeared without a trace. Fragoso, on a whim, wanted to answer them with a song, but Lina covered his mouth just in time to prevent him from showing off, although he would have loved it. On August 2nd, at three o'clock in the night, the raft reached the mouth of Lake Aber Yarra, twenty miles away, and its black waters poured into the river of the same name.Two days later, around five o'clock, the big raft reached the mouth of Lake Koyari. Lake Koyari is one of several large lakes connected to the Amazon River.It is also a reservoir for several rivers.Five or six tributaries feed into the lake, where the water is stored and mixed, and a narrow channel connects it with the Amazon. The big raft docked at Taroua.Near Mili Village, ready to spend the night.In order to prevent floods, the huts in the village are built on piles like stilts.When the water is high, the river often floods this low and flat beach. The big raft anchored by the village of Koyari.A dozen dilapidated thatched huts are hidden among the dense orange trees and gourd vines. With the rise and fall of the lake, the lake is sometimes wide and boundless, and sometimes narrow and difficult, like a shallow canal, making it impossible for ships to navigate to the Amazon River.As a result, the appearance of the small village has changed a lot. The next morning, August 5th, the raft set out again in the morning light.Pass the Yugula Canal, which also belongs to this intricate system of waterways made up of numerous lakes and tributaries of the Zabra River.On the morning of August 6th the big raft reached the mouth of Lake Mivinayo. Before that, nothing new happened on board, and life was as usual and orderly. Under Lina's urging, Fragoso has not relaxed his surveillance on Torres.On several occasions he tried to urge him to tell stories of the past; but the adventurer skilfully avoided such subjects, and kept his mouth shut about the barber. His relationship with the Gallards remained unchanged.Although he rarely spoke to Joam, he was willing to chat with Yaquita and Mina.He seemed completely oblivious to the two's apparent indifference to him.The mother and daughter reassured each other that in Manao, Torres would have to go, and then he would never be heard of again.In this matter, Jacquita followed Father Passana's advice and resolved to endure it for the time being; but it was much more difficult for the good priest to persuade Manoel, who was bent on getting rid of this annoying intruder. Boom down the big raft, The only thing that happened this evening was this: A boat down the river in Joam.At Galal's request, he stopped near the big raft. Are you going to Manao?he asked the Indian in the boat. Yes.The Indian replied. when will you get there Eight days later. Then you'll be there before us.Can you send a letter for me? Ready to serve. Take this letter, friend, and take it to Manao. The Indians took over Joam.Galar handed over the letter, and at the same time received a handful of Reese as a reward. The rest of the family stayed inside and no one knew about it except Torres.He even overheard a few words of conversation between Joam and the Indian, and his sullen countenance clearly showed how surprised he was by sending the letter.