Killing Dr. da Cunha - The Scramble for the Amazon and the Lost Paradise of Euclides da Cunha - page 359

instances to very cute, very blond little Luis, at other times to more ambiguous depend-
ents. 11
Among the things disappearing from the household, besides banknotes, treasures, and
papers, was Ana herself, who increasingly found the ambience impossible. Even when
she encountered her husband on the street he was liable to berate her. She described a
scene where after having been insulted by her husband in front of his friend Henrique
Coelho, she took the streetcar in order to go shopping, Da Cunha bounded onto the car,
seated himself inoneofthebackrows,andproceeded topublicly harangue her.Ontheir
arrival at home da Cunha continued to harass and revile her, saying that she was con-
temptible and that she should go live with her “big Sergeant” (o Sargentão). 12 Given
this domestic milieu. Ana fled to Piedade to escape Euclides' unceasing abuse. She fre-
quentlyvisitedthedeAssisbrotherswiththefour-year-oldLuisandteenagedSolon,and
the other children occasionally went as well. Neighbors of de Assis brothers noted her
frequent presence and assumed she was a relative.
Figure 22.1. Luis da Cunha, who would eventually change his surname to de Assis to reflect his pa-
ternity.
By July 1909, Euclides's father was extremely ill, perhaps with a stroke. Euclides's
own health was such that he couldn't travel: he'd been coughing up clots of blood from
his hemorrhaging lungs—what is known in the medical literature and in a more tubercu-
lar time as hemoptysis. On July 3 he wrote Otaviano, his brother-in-law, from his bed.
He was unable to travel but was sending Ana and Solon, with the idea that if his father
improved hecould return with them. 13 OnJuly 5heexpressed his distress: “The doctors
tell me nothing positive, and advise me to vacation in Madeira. 14 It's not too difficult
to figure out the prognosis. . . . Is it true? I don't care, I've given what I have to give.
Among my few preoccupations, only one really remains—that my father pass his last
days at my side.” 15 Apparently the conditions of Manuel and his son were equally pre-
carious. A few days later he had even more reason to be discouraged.