with some good soil, I am sure they would do well, and we would have
no change of climate to fear for them, as the Amazon flows all the
time along the same parallel."

"Besides," said Benito, "every day islets of verdure, torn from the
banks, go drifting down the river. Do they not pass along with their
trees, bushes, thickets, rocks, and fields, to lose themselves in the
Atlantic eight hundred leagues away? Why, then, should we not
transform our raft into a floating garden?"

"Would you like a forest, miss?" said Fragoso, who stopped at
nothing.

"Yes, a forest!" cried the young mulatto; "a forest with its birds
and its monkeys----"

"Its snakes, its jaguars!" continued Benito.

"Its Indians, its nomadic tribes," added Manoel, "and even its
cannibals!"

"But where are you going to, Fragoso?" said Minha, seeing the active
barber making a rush at the bank.

"To look after the forest!" replied Fragoso.

"Useless, my friend," answered the smiling Minha. "Manoel has given
me a nosegay and I am quite content. It is true," she added, pointing
to the house hidden beneath the flowers, "that he has hidden our
house in his betrothal bouquet!"