The immense stream no longer traverses a desert, but a basin which is being colonized day by day. Danger was not taken into consideration. There were no precautions against attacks. To conclude our description of the jangada, we have only to speak of one or two erections of different kinds which gave it a very picturesque aspect. In navigating under such circumstances a rudder is of no use.
Long oars have no effect on a raft of such dimensions, even when worked with a hundred sturdy arms.
It was from the sides, by means of long boathooks or props thrust against the bed of the stream, that the jangada was kept in the current, and had its direction altered when going astray. By this means they could range alongside either bank, if they wished for any reason to come to a halt. Three or four ubas, and two pirogues, with the necessary rigging, were carried on board, and afforded easy communications with the banks. The pilot had to look after the channels of the river, the deviations of the current, the eddies which it was necessary to avoid, the creeks or bays which afforded favorable anchorage, and to do this he had to be in the bow. A religious family, like that of Joam Garral's, had availed themselves enthusiastically of this occasion of taking him with them.