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42                               THE AMAZON AND MADEIRA RIVERS.
Mamore and Itonama had struck us already in the streets of Manaos by their singular clothing : straw hats made by themselves, and long shirts Avithout sleeves, of the brown bark of the turury-tree; and by their activity. They were about the only persons we saw working in the streets, carrying turtles and fuel from the shore to the houses, or lending a hand at new buildings. They here gain about ten times as much as they could in their own country, where they live in great misery ; and so there is an endless current of emigration from Bolivia to Brazil, in spite of all the reclamations of the former.
After having secured the boats and crew, we had to set about the difficult task of buying provisions for the long voyage before us,—rather a severe trial of our patience, on account of the astonishing indolence of the sparse population, which barely allows it to provide for its own subsistence. Not only are the black beans, that " staff' of life " for the greater part of Brazil, brought from Para, a distance of about three hundred leagues; but even the mandioca flour is imported from the Lower Amazon in thousands of baskets, though that mealy root would thrive just as well in the neighbourhood of Manaos. In respect of meat it is even worse. Instead of the charque, or came scca (dried meat) of the Southern provinces, which is nutritious enough and easily preserved, they have in the North only an abominable dried fish, the pirarucu, that becomes completely uneatable after a long voyage and in such a moist atmosphere; and, as the limited space of the boats does not allow of making a large provision of live turtles, which (so to speak) take the place of beef in these regions, the traveller must largely rely on his good luck in hunting and fishing.
We took provisions for about four months, the rest of the baggage consisting of tools for canoe-making and repairing, ropes, tents, arms, drugs, and presents for the savage and half-savage tribes in the valleys of the Madeira and Mamore.
Besides the eighty Indian paddlers, the expedition consisted of my father and myself; a young Brazilian engineer, Joaquim Manoel da Silva, our technical assistant; the Italian merchant from Bolivia ; and a young German, P. v. S., whose restless spirit had driven him much about in the world, and who had before accompanied us on a similar exploration, as boat's-matc, carpenter, master of the arms, and assistant of surveys.
Our seven canoes differed greatly in size and freightage.    The largest of them was fifteen tons, find had sixteen rowers; while the  smallest