them! A few _"sitios,"_ or manioc and coffee plantations, were
started in parts of the woods which were cleared. Fields of
sugar-canes soon required the construction of a mill to crush the
sacchariferous stalks destined to be used hereafter in the
manufacture of molasses, tafia, and rum. In short, ten years after
the arrival of Joam Garral at the farm at Iquitos the fazenda had
become one of the richest establishments on the Upper Amazon. Thanks
to the good management exercised by the young clerk over the works at
home and the business abroad, its prosperity daily increased.

The Portuguese did not wait so long to acknowledge what he owed to
Joam Garral. In order to recompense him in proportion to his merits
he had from the first given him an interest in the profits of his
business, and four years after his arrival he had made him a partner
on the same footing as himself, and with equal shares.

But there was more that he had in store for him. Yaquita, his
daughter, had, in this silent young man, so gentle to others, so
stern to himself, recognized the sterling qualities which her father
had done. She was in love with him, but though on his side Joam had
not remained insensible to the merits and the beauty of this
excellent girl, he was too proud and reserved to dream of asking her
to marry him.

A serious incident hastened the solution.

Magalhaës was one day superintending a clearance and was mortally
wounded by the fall of a tree. Carried home helpless to the farm, and
feeling himself lost, he raised up Yaquita, who was weeping by his
side, took her hand, and put it into that of Joam Garral, making him