Source of the Paraguay River
At the pool Huber never dismounted from his pony, but sat leaning over in his saddle resting his head on his hand. I asked him why he did not get down but beyond muttering a few words about "such nonsense" he neither said nor did anything. Several times on the ride from the pool to the hills he complained of having a headache, and although I gave him a couple of acetphenetidin tablets they did him no good. He became feverish and said he felt as if he were burning up. He gradually became worse, and his pupils narrowed down to the size of a pin head while his eyes began to shine like coals. It was with difficulty that he kept his saddle, and the last few miles into Diamantino he had to be propped into position by his guide.
Diamantino, whose name should not be confused with the flourishing mining-center of Diamantina in the state of Minas Geraes, is a town of about three thousand inhabitants built on the side of a red earth hill but a short distance to the north of the Paraguay River, here a few rods wide. From a distance it resembles Tallahassee on account of the red color of the soil, and the similarity of their respective townsites. It is one of the oldest towns in central Brazil. Formerly it was important in the mining annals of the country on account of gold and diamonds having been discovered in its vicinity, but mining has long since played out, and it is only important commercially at the present time through the exportation of vanilla beans. It is also the starting place for laborers to the rubber district in the forests of the north and northwest. Diamantino is at the base of the great central plateau of Brazil, which extends eastward into Goyaz, its limits being defined by the Serra Azul. The latter is the watershed between the Amazon and the La Plata river systems. Beyond these mountains is a vast impenetrable forest inhabited by Indians. The proximity is evident by the great number of members of this race, which I believe exceeds the white population of the village. But a day's journey northward, I understand, is the town of Porto Velho on the Arinos River which farther on becomes the Tapajos, the latter being the boundary line of the extensive States of Amazonas and Para; the Tapajos finally flows into the Amazon at Santarem.
Diamantino is one of the most funereal towns imaginable. Its houses are neatly whitewashed, but the absence of panes in the windows gives the impression of tombs. The doors are like black holes in a vault. The streets are wide and are grown to grass on which horses graze; the lawns of the better-class houses are set back in rank gardens enclosed by walls which have pillars at the gates. The whole impression is that of a country cemetery.
The three inns of the place, if such they can be called, run more to botequim (barroom) than to looking after the culinary welfare and lodging of their guests. A rubber train had just entered the town; the laborers had just been paid off and were now riotously and in good humor making the streets and botequims resound with their merriment. They were fast filling up on piraty cachaca, a fiery rumlike liquid made from sugar cane. A glass of this beverage will make an ordinary man "fall under the table" and it is so cheap that it is within the reach of all. On it a man can get one of the cheapest jags known, and like a few other intoxicants it goes down like oil. Only the peasants indulge in it, although it can be obtained in the better-class botequims of Rio de Janeiro. If a well-dressed stranger should stroll into a café in Rio and ask for some of it, the waiter would be apt to look at him in astonishment, wondering what sort of a common fellow he was and how he got his fine clothes, for it is the drink of the lower stratum of society. It is kept on the boats of the Brazilian Lloyd; at Montevideo Brazilian roustabouts swim out to them, buy the beverage, and in a drunken stupor have to be rowed ashore.
At the mediocre and filthy inn which was the best of the three at Diamantino, where I obtained a lodging no better than a hen coop, I tried to get the best room in the place for Huber who was now so sick that he could not stand. The landlord gruffly remarked that his place was no hospital, and would not take him in. Watching over him, I sent the guides to the other two places but they likewise refused to shelter him. Somebody suggested that the priest might find a habitation for him, and upon my instructions set out to find that worthy, who presently arrived in a semi-state of inebriation. The holy man, with filthy robes and an unshaven countenance, scrutinized Huber minutely through his bleary eyes, and in a sottish voice said he could be taken to the end house in the village where upon his recommendation and for about thirty thousand reis ($7.50) he would receive "everything that was to be desired." The price was terribly exorbitant, but owing to the condition the commercial traveler was in, there was no time to argue, so we set off to the place indicated, the two guides carrying him, while the drunken priest, myself, and what seemed to be half of the male population of Diamantino followed. An old woman, toothless and humped, with the eternal black cigar between her lips, discolored with nicotine, came to an aperture which served as the door and gesticulating frantically refused admission. The priest called her aside, and said something to her which we could not hear, but it evidently appeased her for she came back saying that it would be all right for him to stay there provided she was paid in advance. I was on the point of accepting the offer when a tall, handsome man in uniform appeared, and asked what the rumpus was about. A hundred voices tried to answer at the same time. He motioned them to be silent, and heard me out. No sooner had I stopped speaking than the crowd again began to speak. He ordered them to stop, and addressing me said that he was the chief of police as well as the mayor of the town, and that his house was at our disposal gratis. I accepted his kind offer, much to the dismay of the priest and toothless hag who were now begging me to let Huber stay with them.
The two guides, who had laid the German down with a coat under his head as a pillow in the shade of a wall, picked him up and we set out toward the mayor's residence, but a short distance away. The crowd started to follow, but the mayor with some harsh oaths ordered them away. They all dispersed excepting a curious few who eyed us from a distance. The mayor's house was a long one-story building facing a common grown to grass and milkweed. It had in front a wide tile-paved veranda whose heavy roof was supported by square pillars. On this veranda were benches where the family sat evenings, and where the functionary entertained his guests. The room in which he ordered Huber placed was tile paved, high, and cool, with two windows, one of them at the side nearly covered with vines. In it was an iron bedstead, a couple of chairs, a table, and a wash basin. All the front windows of the house had vertical iron bars. The mayor, a perfect gentleman, sent a boy whom I imagined to be his son for a doctor while he invited me to be seated on a bench and chat with him till the medico arrived. He was particular to inquire when and how Huber had been taken sick, as he said he did not care to have anybody in his place who had a contagious disease.
The doctor was slow in coming, so slow that in the meantime Huber had become delirious. He took his temperature, looked grave, and sent a halfbreed servant away to soak some towels and rags in cold water, which when she returned he ordered her to place on Huber's head and change every few minutes for fresh ones. There is no ice in Diamantino, and the olla from which the water had been poured had been standing all the afternoon in the sun, consequently it was not cool enough to suit the physician. He gave instructions for more ollas to be filled, and as night had come on, to be left on the porch in front of the room in which the patient lay.