Two canoes passed us, that had been robbed by Mariano's band of everything they had in them; the owners were gathering palm-nuts for their subsistence.

They wore palm-leaf aprons, as the robbers had stripped them of their clothing and ornaments.

Dead bodies floated past us daily, and in the mornings the paddles had to be cleared of corpses, caught by the floats during the night.

For scores of miles the entire population of the valley was swept away by this scourge Mariano, who is again, as he was before, the great Portuguese slave-agent.

It made the heart ache to see the widespread desolation; the river-banks, once so populous, all silent; the villages burned down, and an oppressive stillness reigning where formerly crowds of eager sellers appeared with the various products of their industry.