With the details of his mountain travels, interesting as they may be, we have naught to do. No more with his descent of the Huallaga, nor his long voyage on the Amazon itself, in that up-river portion of the stream where it is called the "Marañon." Only where it becomes the stupendous "Solimoës" do we join Ralph Trevannion on his journey, and remain with him as long as he is "AFLOAT IN THE FOREST," _or making a voyage among the tree-tops_. CHAPTER III. THE GALATEA. On an evening in the early part of December, a craft of singular construction might have been seen descending the Solimoës, and apparently making for the little Portuguese port of Coary, that lies on the southern side of the river. When we say of singular construction, we mean singular to one unaccustomed to the navigation of Amazonian waters. There the craft in question was too common to excite curiosity, since it was nothing more than a _galatea_, or large canoe, furnished with mast and sail, with a palm-thatched cabin, or _tolda_, rising over the quarter, a low-decked locker running from bow to midships,--along each side of which were to be seen, half seated, half standing, some half-dozen dark-skinned men, each plying, instead of an oar, a paddle-blade. [Illustration] Perhaps the most singular sight on board this embarkation was the group of animated beings who composed its crew and passengers. The former, as already stated, were dark-skinned men, scantily clad,--in fact, almost naked, since a single pair of white cotton drawers constituted the complete costume of each. For passengers there were three men, and a like number of individuals of younger age. Two of the men were white, apparently Europeans; the other was as black as soot could have made him,--unquestionably an African negro. Of the young people two were boys, not much differing in size, and apparently not much in age, while the third was a half-grown girl, of dark complexion, raven-colored hair, and beautiful features. One of the white men appeared to be, and was, the proprietor of the montaria, and the employer of its swarthy crew. He was Ralph Trevannion. The young girl was his daughter, and bore her Peruvian mother's name, Rosa, more often pronounced by its diminutive of endearment, Rosita. The younger of the two boys--also of dark complexion--was his son Ralph, while the older, of true Saxon physiognomy and hue, was the son of his brother, also bearing his father's Christian name, Richard. The second white man was unmistakably of European race,--so much so that any one possessing the slightest knowledge of the hibernian type, would at once have pronounced him a "Son of the Sod." A pure pug nose, a shock of curled hair of the clearest carrot color, an eternal twinkle in the eye, a volume of fun lying open at each angle of the mouth,--were all characteristics by which "Tipperary Tom"--for such was his _sobriquet_--might be remembered.