districts, and is getting rarer and rarer along the banks of the
river, so that the natives are very careful to spare the stems when
they gather them. Tonquin bans, known in Brazil under the name of
_"cumarus,"_ and used in the manufacture of certain essential oils;
sassafras, from which is extracted a precious balsam for wounds;
bales of dyeing plants, cases of several gums, and a quantity of
precious woods, completed a well-adapted cargo for lucrative and easy
sale in the provinces of Para.

Some may feel astonished that the number of Indians and negroes
embarked were only sufficient to work the raft, and that a larger
number were not taken in case of an attack by the riverside Indians.

Such would have been useless. The natives of Central America are not
to be feared in the least, and the times are quite changed since it
was necessary to provide against their aggressions. The Indians along
the river belong to peaceable tribes, and the fiercest of them have
retired before the advancing civilization, and drawn further and
further away from the river and its tributaries. Negro deserters,
escaped from the penal colonies of Brazil, England, Holland, or
France, are alone to be feared. But there are only a small number of
these fugitives, they only move in isolated groups across the
savannahs or the woods, and the jangada was, in a measure, secured
from any attack on the parts of the backwoodsmen.

On the other hand, there were a number of settlements on the
river--towns, villages, and missions. The immense stream no longer
traverses a desert, but a basin which is being colonized day by day.
Danger was not taken into consideration. There were no precautions
against attacks.