lips, appeared for an instant on the shore. They were armed with
arrows and blow tubes, but made no use of them, and did not even
attempt to communicate with the jangada.


CHAPTER XI

FROM PEVAS TO THE FRONTIER

DURING THE FEW days which followed nothing occurred worthy of note.
The nights were so fine that the long raft went on its way with the
stream without even a halt. The two picturesque banks of the river
seemed to change like the panoramas of the theaters which unroll from
one wing to another. By a kind of optical illusion it appeared as
though the raft was motionless between two moving pathways.

Benito had no shooting on the banks, for no halt was made, but game
was very advantageously replaced by the results of the fishing.

A great variety of excellent fish were taken--_"pacos," "surubis,"
"gamitanas,"_ of exquisite flavor, and several of those large rays
called _"duridaris,"_ with rose-colored stomachs and black backs
armed with highly poisonous darts. There were also collected by
thousands those _"candirus,"_ a kind of small silurus, of which many
are microscopic, and which so frequently make a pincushion of the
calves of the bather when he imprudently ventures into their haunts.

The rich waters of the Amazon were also frequented by many other
aquatic animals, which escorted the jangada through its waves for
whole hours together.