likely to imagine that the walls remained bare. The boards were
hidden beneath hangings of most agreeable variety. These hangings
were made of valuable bark, that of the _"tuturis,"_ which is raised
up in large folds like the brocades and damasks and softest and
richest materials of our modern looms. On the floors of the rooms
were jaguar skins, with wonderful spots, and thick monkey furs of
exquisite fleeciness. Light curtains of the russet silk, produced by
the _"sumauma,"_ hung from the windows. The beds, enveloped in
mosquito curtains, had their pillows, mattresses, and bolsters filled
with that fresh and elastic substance which in the Upper Amazon is
yielded by the bombax.

Throughout on the shelves and side-tables were little odds and ends,
brought from Rio Janeiro or Belem, those most precious to Minha being
such as had come from Manoel. What could be more pleasing in her eyes
than the knickknacks given by a loving hand which spoke to her
without saying anything?

In a few days the interior was completed, and it looked just like the
interior of the fazenda. A stationary house under a lovely clump of
trees on the borders of some beautiful river! Until it descended
between the banks of the larger stream it would not be out of keeping
with the picturesque landscape which stretched away on each side of
it.

We may add that the exterior of the house was no less charming than
the interior.

In fact, on the outside the young fellows had given free scope to
their taste and imagination.