at the dinner-table.

On that day was given a dinner which did honor to the Indian cook.
The traditional soup of fragrant herbs; cake, so often made to
replace bread in Brazil, composed of the flour of the manioc
thoroughly impregnated with the gravy of meat and tomato jelly;
poultry with rice, swimming in a sharp sauce made of vinegar and
_"malagueta;"_ a dish of spiced herbs, and cold cake sprinkled with
cinnamon, formed enough to tempt a poor monk reduced to the ordinary
meager fare of his parish. They tried all they could to detain him,
and Yaquita and her daughter did their utmost in persuasion. But the
Franciscan had to visit on that evening an Indian who was lying ill
at Cocha, and he heartily thanked the hospitable family and departed,
not without taking a few presents, which would be well received by
the neophytes of the mission.

For two days Araujo was very busy. The bed of the river gradually
enlarged, but the islands became more numerous, and the current,
embarrassed by these obstacles, increased in strength. Great care was
necessary in passing between the islands of Cabello-Cocha, Tarapote,
and Cacao. Many stoppages had to be made, and occasionally they were
obliged to pole off the jangada, which now and then threatened to run
aground. Every one assisted in the work, and it was under these
difficult circumstances that, on the evening of the 20th of June,
they found themselves at Nuestra-Senora-di-Loreto.

Loreto is the last Peruvian town situated on the left bank of the
river before arriving at the Brazilian frontier. It is only a little
village, composed of about twenty houses, grouped on a slightly
undulating bank, formed of ocherous earth and clay.