The morning cup being over, the sailors brought in the rope hawser and took up the long-handled oars. Soon they had rowed the craft far out into the river, where the current was strongest, for they were now heading down the Rio Negro to its junction with the upper Amazon. A sail was hoisted and as there was a brisk wind they travelled at a rapid rate and reached the Amazon in less than two hours’ time. David now had ample time to examine the boat on which he had been accepted as a fellow voyager. It was large, very large, in fact, for such a craft, being fifty feet long and twelve feet wide, but of very shallow draft. The bottom and sides were made of thick boards spiked to heavy, hand-hewn timbers. There was a small deck forward and another aft, the spaces below being used for storage, and over each was a small, rounded shelter of palm leaves. Along each side was a runway of boards like a narrow outrigger on which the men walked when poling the boat through shallow water. In the center was a board structure which made the batalao look like a long houseboat. This was the store and was filled with provisions and merchandise placed on shelves and in heaps on the floor. Almost everything of value to the dwellers in the interior was carried, including tinned foods, rice, beans, dried fish, oil, cloth, fish-hooks, knives and matches. Also tobacco, maté, and quantities of the staple food along the Amazon--farinha. The men next attracted David’s attention. Although he had seen most of them during the previous days he had not had the opportunity to study them closely. There were twenty; strong, sun-burnt, good-natured and ragged, but not very energetic. However, when Don Marco shouted an order it was quickly carried out. They either respected or feared him--it was impossible to tell which. As the boat, aided by the current, sped along, the sailors busied themselves tidying up things in general, and looking to the paraphernalia they would need during the journey up-stream, which would begin shortly. The river was but slightly ruffled, the dark-colored water speeding along in a broad belt between high, rolling banks covered with dense forest. There were many other craft on the river, including a tramp freighter from some foreign port, launches, and a number of huge dugout canoes laden with bananas, nuts and other produce on its way to the city markets. The crews always called to one another if the outfits passed within hailing distance, each asking as many questions as possible as to destination, business and other things, before conversation was checked by the growing distance between them. As they neared the junction of the two streams the course of the boat was altered, for after entering the larger river they would journey up-stream; they would be compelled to hug closely the forested bank where the current was slack, if there were no wind.