“If we learn where that plane’s hanging out, I’ll be satisfied,” declared the diver.
CHAPTER VII—OFF FOR THE JUNGLE
Never will the two boys forget that first trip up the big, turbid South American river. From start to finish it was one never ending succession of surprises, interests, wonders and delight. The miles of mangrove swamps, with their aerial roots drooping from the branches into the water, lured the boys’ imaginations with their mysterious, dark depths. A great flock of scarlet ibis, that rose from their feeding ground upon a mud flat and, lighting on the trees, looked like gorgeous fiery blossoms, brought cries of delight from the boys. They watched the big greenheart rafts floating silently downstream with their Indian crews lolling in hammocks beneath the thatched shelters on the logs. Mr. Thorne pointed out dozing alligators which Tom and Frank had mistaken for logs; he showed them the giant, lily-like water plants which he said were “mucka mucka,” and he called their attention to countless bright-plumaged birds which flitted in the foliage of the riverside trees. At times the steamer swung in so close to shore that the boys caught glimpses of frightened, scurrying iguanas or great lizards; at other times, it slowed down and stopped before some tiny thatched hut at the edge of a clearing and unloaded merchandise or people into the huge dugout canoes that put off from shore pulled by bronze-skinned, half-naked men.
“Are they Indians?” asked Tom, as they watched the fellows handling the heavy barrels and boxes with ease.
“No, Bovianders,” replied Mr. Thorne, “a mixture of Dutch, negro and Indian blood. They’re the best boatmen in the colony. I always have a Boviander captain for my boat.”
“What does Boviander mean?” asked Frank. “Is it an Indian name?”
“It has a curious origin,” the explorer informed him. “It’s a corruption of ‘above yonder.’ In the old days, any one who lived up the river from the coast was said to live ‘above yonder’ and gradually the expression was transformed to ‘Boviander.’”
“Well, that is funny!” declared Tom. “I never would have guessed it.”
“You’ll find a lot of queer expressions here,” laughed the explorer. “You’ll hear the people speak of ‘taking a walk’ when they mean a trip in a canoe and you’ll hear them say ‘topside’ when they mean some place which is indefinite. They also speak of the turns of a stream as ‘streets’ and they all use the native Indian names for birds, animals, and trees. They never say ‘tapir’ but ‘maipuri,’ a boa or anaconda is a ‘camudi,’ a camp is always a ‘logi’ or ‘benab,’ a canoe is a ‘coorial’ and so on.”
“Gosh, I don’t believe I’ll ever understand them!” declared Tom, “but I’m going to try. Can’t you get one of your Indians to talk? I’d love to hear that ‘talky-talky’ lingo you spoke about.”