Explorations of the highlands of the Brazil; with a full account of the gold and diamond mines. Also, canoeing down 1500 miles of the great river São Francisco, from Sabará to the sea. By Captain Richard F. Burton, F.R.G.S. etc. Vol II.
Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?
Wednesday, August 7, 1867. — We walked down to the Porto da Ponte Grande, where the ajojo or raft lay. I never saw such an old Noah’s Ark, with its standing awning, a floating gipsy “pál,” some seven feet high and twenty-two long, and pitched like a tent upon two hollowed logs. The river must indeed be safe, if this article can get down without accident.