Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
become gravely ill there. Sr. Sá kept at me about the memo in spite of its total lack of importance,
andthisfact,takentogetherwithothers,demonstratedanattitudethatwashardlycompatiblewiththe
solidarity of effort we needed to maintain.
This hostility, which had been veiled until then except for the platonic indications at Cocama, un-
masked itself finally, entirely, when we tried to agree about what to do after this stop. We were in
Forquilha where the enumeration of the enormous, countless difficulties they had indicated earlier
began again. Wherever we wanted to advance, whether to the north via the Curiúja or by the south
and the Cujar, the crossings were impossible. It was this they had affirmed in Manaus, it was this the
comissário
monotonously repeated as we traveled, it was this that was confirmed in Cataí, and that
newinformationatCuranjareinforced,andfinally,itwasthisthattheydeclaredinlightofthecurrent
news of practically all the inhabitants of Forquilha. We could not advance. The Cujar, which would
lead to the so-called official
varadouro
, the preferred route those who communicated with Iquitos,
awaited us with sandbars, submerged logs, and seventy-five cascades, some of more than two meters
in height. If we succeeded, we would then arrive at the Cavaljani, where the obstacles would increase
alongwiththedifficulties ofthefalls.AfterwardthearduouspassagetothePucani,andthentoarrive
finally at the
varadouro
. On the Curiúja, the same impediments . . . After this . . . the savages, the
in-
fieles
. Two hours before we had arrived at that point [Forquilha], we had seen on the left bank of the
riverinaclearingthecorpseofanAmahuacawomanthathadbeensimplyflungthere.Aswelearned
later, the Indian had been betrayed by the other barbarians who moved close by, according to many, a
permanent and mute threat.
It was natural that we would deliberate on how to proceed given such special circumstances—and
the conclusion that was most logical and irresistible was to return.
Considering the state of my outfit and principally our lack of supplies (which couldn't be renewed
at Forquilha because there, on this occasion, you couldn't even find a basket of manioc meal), I
wouldn'tcontestthisposition.I'dcalmlyreturn.Wehadalreadyexpendedtremendousefforttoarrive
after months of punishing travel in our canoes.
But I was surprised by the new attitude of Sr. Buenaño. In fact, exactly at the moment when
they were about to realize their old prophecies, Sr. Sá changed. The transformation was inexplic-
able—whenthedifficulties andhazardswerevague,inconsistent, andreallyunacceptable inManaus,
en route, in Cataí, and even in Curanja, Sr. Sá decreed: we would not be able to transit the
varadour-
os
. And when those perils and predicaments were so eloquently, so impressively confirmed, in the
pronouncements of those who struggled with them almost daily, and by our own observation, since
from a single window we could contemplate the continual fall in the water levels of the two rivers
and the impressive and disturbing evidence of a murder—Sr. Sá reverted to a surprising optimism
and professed in a firm and categorical way: indeed yes,
one
could cross the
varadouros
. But he was
not generous. His affirmation was not just limited egoistically to the singular; he completed his state-
ment with a negative equally as imperious: that
I
could not cross the
varadouro
. The situation was
clear.TheJointCommissionwouldsplitapartinaninequalityofenergies.ThePeruvianCommission,
strong, able, self-abnegating, was ready to continue but was unable to do so because the Brazilian
commissary, ruined by shipwreck, with a reduced staff, working primitively, without supplies, could
absolutely not proceed further. This Sá loudly affirmed.
I understood that Sr. Buenaño completely grasped our real situation. It was most grave. Without
being able to resupply in Curanja, where they swore there was nothing to be had, having lost hope
of replenishment there (Forquilha), where they also declared to us they had nothing, I confess, Your
Excellency, that I doubted that we had enough provisions for the return. In addition, I was suffering
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