On the morning of the 23d of May the Tortuga’s bow was turned against the swift middle current of the Pilcomayo’s bayou expanse, then at its height from the copious contributions of the rainy season in the high lands and mountain sources of its tributaries. Night still found us in the broad sea of waters, baffled in search of the interior mouth which was made more difficult from the confluent branches uniting with it near its Paraguayan embouchure. The commandante, anticipating the difficulty likely to be encountered, had been particular in giving directions; but although strictly followed, from a calculation of the steamer’s speed, twice the distance had been run without discovering the described landmarks. Uncertainty was rendered still more uncomfortable by the shallowing of the water, showing plainly that we were inland from the river’s channel. At midnight, while anchored, a hurricane, heralded by a thunder-storm, made the waters seethe with its force, causing our little craft to careen and bob with a politeness to the gusts that impaired our confidence in its self reliance. Padre Simon declared that the lightning set his teeth on edge, prompting him from its dazzling flashes to pray, but that the thunder so startled and confused him that he was unable to think, and as a dernier ressort was obliged to drink. This remedy finally rendered him proof to the best efforts of Jupiter Tonans; but on waking in the morning he complained that he could still hear the roll of the thunder in his head.
On the morning of the 24th the sun rose bright and clear in a cloudless sky, compensating with its splendor the discomforts of the night; its reflected light glancing upon the waters discovered far to the south a broad ripple, indicating the sought-for channel. The river’s stream was soon gained, and followed in a southwesterly course until the river’s limits were defined by partially submerged trees growing upon its banks. Having at Santa Anna filled every available portion of the vessel with fuel, sufficient for a run of four days, the boat was enabled to keep on her course under a full head of steam, without anxiety from the dull prospect offered for replenishing.
May 25th, at sunrise, after a good night’s run, we discovered a headland above the surface of the water covered with fire-scathed trees, from which the captain, for a surety, concluded to add to his diminished supply of fuel. The labor of taking in wood from this source was by no means pleasant, but the sailors with good-will made the “virtue of necessity” cheerful with songs and jokes, the “passengers,” suitably clothed, contributing with the zest of energy their labor for its stowage, so that by eight o’clock we were again under way. With the exception of this wooded bluff nothing but sky, water, and foliage had met our eyes since leaving Santa Anna, the monotonous compound making us well content with cabin associations.
On the 28th at sunrise, our ears were gladdened with the cry of “Land ho!” Rushing on deck, with the expectation of a greeting from well defined banks, we were disappointed, as the contrasted elements of the previous day still prevailed. Seeing that we were a little inclined to be vexed, at what we considered to be an ill-timed joke, the man at the wheel, an old river navigator, pointed to a mud bank that closed our view with the bend of the river, at the same time directing our attention to the eddy cast from it far out toward a line of trees on the opposite shore. From these indications he assured us that in a half hour’s time we should hear the songs of birds to make us lively. Doubling the muddy cape we were greeted with the screams of parrots, while other birds of gay plumage were crossing and recrossing the river singly and in flocks, causing, in apparent salutation, a lively line of demarcation between the land enclosed current and the smooth waters of the flood below. The welcome sight raised our spirits into a sympathetic mood of song, which was unfortunately too nearly allied to the screaming discord of the parrots to evoke other than a mirthful disposition for repartee which expended itself in humorous comparisons, favoring the advent of genial omens.
Mr. Welson, a prominent official of the Panama Railroad Company, had accepted the freedom proffered by the steamship lines plying between the maritime cities of the eastern coast of South America, for his recuperative vacation of three months, and on his arrival in Montevideo had been induced by Captain Greenwood to extend his voyage up the river.
A Scotsman by birth, he possessed in an eminent degree the predilection of his people for dry, caustic humor; and in his position of commercial agent had cultivated the art of extracting fun from the vagaries of migrating humanity in their transit across the isthmus. Scientific whimsies were especially adapted to his quizzical vein, and a happier combination of material could scarcely have been conjured for his entertainment, than he found on board of the Tortuga. Padre Simon was his especial favorite as a stimulating provocative. Won by his naïve simplicity, he had soon interested himself to learn the object of his river voyage, with the intention of rendering him assistance. Greatly to his surprise the padre informed him that he had no other expectations in visiting Entre Rios than the chance one “of hitting an opportunity to make a strike.” Amused with his vernacular, and the easy carelessness of his manner, which seemed to defy disappointment, he was delighted to discover his growing fondness for polemical disputations, which was gratified by a kindred disposition cultivated by Dr. Baāhar, the naturalist of the corps. On the steamer’s arrival at Entre Rios, the port of his destination, the padre’s thoughts were absorbed in the dogmatic discussion of the soul’s material identity with the body after the resurrection, so that he gave no heed to the frequent repetition of the name of the town. Aware of his total abstraction from all thoughts and anxieties connected with the business responsibilities of life, necessary for material sustenance, Mr. Welson connived with the doctor to hold him in argument until after the steamer’s departure, well assured that no material harm could arise from the derangement of plans so lightly impressed as to give place to chimerical argument. For a characteristic illustration of the disputants’ peculiarities we will give the burden of their colloquial subjects of exposition.
Padre. “My conscience’ sake alive, man! Why, you might as well set us down as beasts at once, as to argue that in resurrection we shall assume the form of animals whose habits we most affect in life! Surely your naturalistic learning has run mad with your orthodox catholic ideas, for, upon my soul, they are rank with transmigration, and if confessed, you would be denied absolution by every ecclesiastic in the Christian world. Look you! the very fact, if admitted, would controvert all that we hold sacred. Why, man, it would render absurd our reliquary faith in the efficacy of sainted bones and vestments for healing the sick and lame, for the marrow-bones of swine and the hair of dogs would hardly serve to enlist belief in the Christian doctrine of divine transubstantiation?”
Dr. B. “As we claim that reason has been bestowed as an endowment to distinguish us in reality from the brute creation, its possession presupposes preordination of intention in decree for its use. Now, if you will devote your share of this human endowment to the demonstration I am about to give of cause and effect, you will not fail to perceive the distinctions upon which our faith is founded. Humanity possesses omnivorously, in its varieties of genera and species, all the habits of the lower orders of the animal creation in their separate representation! But superadded to this resemblance in the community of instinct, man has a discretionary power inherent with his endowment of reason, which enables him to profit by experience in shaping his course for the avoidance of consequent evils which follow from the transgression of natural laws. This power presupposes accountability that directs itself to Creative Cause. Upon this innate feeling of responsibility, impressed by repentance from transgressions, and joys imparted from adherence to the monitor indications of our superiority, man has founded his religious distinctions of vice and virtue. In furtherance of this natural division man has volunteered to represent vice, and woman, unprejudiced by his influence, would have naturally assumed the role of virtue in truthful vindication of her vocation as the mother of our race. Now, as you well know, it is impossible to harmonize vice and virtue, even with the instinctive coalescence of the sexes? Hence, as you must acknowledge, there will be a constant struggle for ascendency. Man as the stronger of the two, in representative selfish determination, and the moral force of muscular strength, is as full of devices for the beguilement of woman from her sacred trust as the variations of his ability admit.”
Padre. “Yes, all that may be true; but you don’t talk at all like yourself, and I can’t see what you have said has to do with revealed religion.”